District of Maryland PSN Project

The Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program is designed to create safer neighborhoods through a sustained reduction in crime associated with gang and gun violence. The program's effectiveness is based on the cooperation of local, state, and federal agencies engaged in a unified approach led by the U.S. Attorney (USA) in each district. The USA is responsible for establishing a collaborative PSN task force of federal, state, and local law enforcement and other community members to implement gang and gun crime enforcement, intervention and prevention initiatives within the district. Through the PSN task force, the USA will implement the five design features of PSN partnerships, strategic planning, training, outreach, and accountability to address specific gun and gang crime problems in that district.

The Maryland Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention (GOCCP), serving as the fiscal agent for the District of Maryland, will address gang and gun violence in eight specific Maryland jurisdictions that are currently PSN sites. The Maryland Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office will work with existing PSN task forces in the eight jurisdictions, as well as with a research partner, the University of Maryland's Institute for Governmental Service and Research, to increase the capacity of federal prosecution to remove more violent offenders from targeted communities, to conduct problem and process analysis to identify methods to improve the PSN task force process and to conduct evaluations that identify best practices and outcomes for anti-gang and gun initiatives.

CA/NCF