FY 2007 Anti-Gang Initiative - District of CT

The Anti-Gang Initiative provides funds to support new or expanded anti-gang enforcement and prevention efforts under the existing Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Initiative. These new funds may be used by the PSN task force to combat gangs by leveraging current strategies and partnerships developed under PSN initiatives or may be used to develop new anti-gang initiatives. The Anti-Gang initiative will be led by the United States Attorney in each of the 94 federal judicial districts across America. Grant funds will be awarded to a single fiscal agent in each of the 94 districts. The fiscal agent, in coordination with the PSN task force, will allocate the funds throughout the community to support the anti-gang initiative in that community.

The Connection, Inc. serves as the fiscal agent for the District of Connecticut's FY 2007 Anti-Gang Initiative Award. The goals of the project are to: 1) continue the regional anti-gang task forces comprised of local police, state police, and federal agents in Connecticut's three largest cities (Bridgeport, New Haven, and Hartford); 2) continue including members of the police departments with access to intelligence information about local gangs on each task force; 3) train educators, school resource officers, school police officers, and other school security personnel to recognize gang symbols, clothing, and tattoos; 4) assign experienced, dedicated Assistant United States Attorneys and state prosecutors to work with each of the task forces; 5) reduce gang involved criminal activity and increase gang related investigations by funding police overtime; 6) use Title III intercepts wherever the law and facts permits; 7) aggressively pursue pre-trial detention for offenders referred to the federal system for prosecution; 8) use gang members as cooperating witnesses; 9) foster active community involvement; 10) coordinate current anti-gang efforts, including Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, Safe Streets Task Force, Project Safe Neighborhoods, and Weed and Seed; 11) maintain frequent communication between the United States Attorney's Office and federal judges to educate them about the prosecution of gang cases in federal courts; and 12) support gang intelligence collection efforts and develop and implement a statewide gang database. Grant funds will be used for training, police department overtime, equipment purchases, confidential funds, media and community outreach, and the development of a statewide gang database.

NCA/CF