Operation
TARGET (Taking Aim to Reduce Gun Violence and End Trafficking) is
Western District of Pennsylvania's Firearms Violence Reduction Initiative
that is a multifaceted team approach to reducing firearms related
violence in the communities of Western Pennsylvania. The TARGET
approach, use many past proven strategies, such as have been employed
in other cities, along with innovations unique to our area. The
TARGET strategy can be broken-down into five major components, each
with elements that are being implemented as Operation TARGET progresses.
Below, you will find a brief summation of each component and the
elements that they are comprised of:
Law
Enforcement Component:
The Law Enforcement
Component is comprised of three units that look to enforce Federal
and State Firearms laws from all angles. This component consists
of a Street Unit, Violent Crime Unit and a Federal Firearms Licensee/Lead
Unit, all of which continually coordinate their investigative efforts
with the other TARGET participants.
Street Unit:
This unit investigates current firearms related criminal activity
with Federal, State and Local partners.
Examples of
criminal activity investigated by this unit are homicides, firearms
related assaults, firearms thefts and "straw purchase"
schemes that are brought to light as a result of a firearm recovery.
Violent Crime
Unit:
This unit receives and investigates leads resulting from referrals
made to the Operation TARGET task force. The purpose of this unit
is to facilitate Federal prosecution of criminals (prohibited persons)
who are found in possession of firearms.
Examples of
criminal activity investigated by the violent crime unit are armed
career criminals, armed drug traffickers and gangs and felons in
possession of firearms.
The Federal
Firearms Licensee / Lead Unit:
This unit is
responsible for investigating leads generated from trace information
related to "straw purchasers" and those who facilitate
illegal gun purchasing and trafficking. This unit compiles &
analyzes firearms related data from all sources such as, firearms
traces, participating agency input and ATF's Online LEAD.
Prosecutive Component:
The prosecutive
component of Operation TARGET is meant to present a unified front
against gun crime. The United States Attorney, District Attorneys
and the Commonwealth Attorney Generals Office have joined together
to send a clear message that the criminal misuse of firearms will
not be tolerated, regardless of prosecutive venue.
The Operation
TARGET Task Force Law Enforcement Component will refer cases for
prosecution, and the United States Attorney and District Attorney
will, in consultation with each other and with the Task Force, make
the final decision as to the best venue for prosecution.
Probation
and Parole (Follow-up) Component:
The Operation
TARGET Federal, State and County Probation and Parole Office Participants
working closely with the other Operation TARGET Law Enforcement
Component team members will assist in identifying potential firearms
law violators and coordinate with other Task Force Components when
firearms are discovered in possession of their "clients".
The Probation
and Parole participants will also ensure that their "clients"
are made aware of consequences related to violations of firearm
laws, through handouts, meetings, etc.
Targeted
Deterrence Component:
One goal of
Operation TARGET is to deter criminals, either first time or repeat
offenders or inmates, from the criminal misuse of firearms by the
use of a number of innovative techniques designed to ensure that
the deterrent message reaches potential offenders.
In this component
Operation TARGET employs a tiered approach that consists of a "blanket
notification" to all who become involved in the criminal justice
system, "forum meetings" or "call ins" for those
who are under conditions of supervised release and increased probation
and parole assistance to police.
Public Awareness/Partnership Component:
Operation TARGET
includes a public awareness and partnership component which was
introduced at a press conference at the office of Pittsburgh's Mayor
Tom Murphy on October 12th 2000, and is presently underway.
An important
element of the public awareness campaign is training and education
of all public and private partners as well as the community. Appropriate
training has been developed and will be delivered to meet the needs
of each TARGET audience. For example, Federal Firearms Licensees
(FFLs) will be offered a Dealer Awareness Program, Law Enforcement
will be offered Firearms Trafficking Seminars and Comprehensive
Firearms Tracing training and for the Community, Community Awareness
Presentations.
Other target
audiences for the training and education portion of the Operation
TARGET campaign will be public and private schools and the community
at large. Currently, plans are underway to implement a campaign
specifically designed to educate the youth of our communities as
to how to avoid the criminal misuse of firearms and firearms related
violence. Recently, two Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Officers received
ATF GREAT training and it is anticipated that the program will be
implemented in the Pittsburgh Public Schools within the year.
In addition to the five main components of Operation TARGET, coordination
will be maintained between many support functions and initiatives
that have been identified as being critical to the success of the
overall Operation TARGET Firearms Violence Reduction Initiative.
The support functions required to facilitate the overall initiative
include the Comprehensive use of the Integrated Ballistic Identification
System (IBIS), Federal, State and Local Laboratories and the development
and implementation of a regional and State-wide Comprehensive Crime
Gun Tracing Network that is tied to the ATF National Tracing Center.
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