Project Safe Neighborhoods, Eastern District of California

As part of BJA’s Smart Suite, the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), represents a strategic approach that brings more “science” into criminal justice operations by leveraging innovative applications of analysis, technology, and evidence-based practices with the goal of improving performance and effectiveness while containing costs. 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 violence 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 crime and gang violence problems in that district.

The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, serving as the fiscal agent for the Eastern District of California, will use the FY 16 PSN funds to achieve significant citywide reductions in violence. The City of Fresno will create a Violent Crime Unit Task Force to coordinate firearm and gang criminal investigations; add the capability to conduct real-time ballistic analysis of recovered firearms and shell casings, create a database of shooting incidents and ballistic analysis; improve data driven analysis of firearm and gang crime; and support continued community outreach efforts to decrease gang related firearms violence. CA/NCF