Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2008, $102,951)
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a nationwide commitment to reducing gun crime, links existing local programs together and provides them with necessary tools. PSN takes a hard line against gun criminals, using every available means to create safer neighborhoods; seeks to achieve heightened coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement; and emphasizes tactical intelligence gathering, more aggressive prosecutions, and enhanced accountability through performance measures. The United States Attorney in each federal judicial district will lead the offensive. The fiscal agent, in coordination with the PSN task force, will allocate funds throughout the community.
The Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, serving as the fiscal agent for the District of Nebraska, will use the grant to fund several initiatives, described in the following sentences, that address the increasing number of gun and gang violence incidents in the cities of Omaha and Lincoln, as well as the problem of domestic violence offenders who possess firearms. The Lincoln Police Department will fund overtime for police, probation, and parole officers to conduct proactive specialized operations for the city's Night-Light Operations, which consist of home visits to individuals on probation and parole in known gun hot spots. The Omaha Police Department will pay for overtime for law enforcement officers involved in specialized operations. These officers will participate in Cease-Fire, directed patrol, and Night-Light operations. The Douglas County Attorney's Office will partially fund a deputy Douglas County attorney to work part-time on gun and gang cases over a 36 month period. This position will aid in the prosecutions of gun and gang-related crimes, provide improved tracking of violent gun offenders in the criminal justice system, as well as be an active member of the PSN Firearms Case Screening Team, which scrutinizes all gun cases to determine which case needs additional forensic attention. The Nebraska State Patrol Laboratory will fund overtime for a technician to conduct examinations on seized guns to improve the quality of prosecutions and contribute to the IBIS and NIBIN databases, and purchase equipment to store the seized guns. The University of Nebraska at Omaha Juvenile Justice Institute will continue data collection and program evaluation for the district.
NCA/NCF