For Immediate Release

February 3, 2003

Minneapolis - Eleven members of the federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) team returned from a Justice Department conference in Philadelphia, PA this weekend. More than 1,300 prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and community leaders attended the national conference to coordinate local strategies to prevent gun violence and take criminals who use guns off our nation's streets.

The Minnesota PSN team included: Tom Heffelfinger, United States Attorney; Nate Petterson, Assistant United States Attorney/Supervisor of Major Crimes Division; Jeanne Cooney, Director of External Relations; Peter Lindstrom, Executive Assistant to the Ramsey County Attorney; Timothy Faver, Beltrami County Attorney; Ali Alifson, Center for the Reduction of Rural Violence in Bemidji, MN; Jason Wanbach, Mahnomen County Deputy Sheriff; Michael Klinkhammer, Red Lake Tribal Prosecutor; Michael Boxler, Special Agent in Charge of the St. Paul office of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Steven Bogdalek, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and Russel Traurig, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

At the conference, local team members were addressed by several senior federal government officials, including Attorney General John Ashcroft, Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, and the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Bradley Buckles.

"This conference was an important tool in bringing together all those who work to eliminate illegal gun use and make our streets more safe," said Attorney General John Ashcroft, who spoke at the conference. "The team of community, state, and federal leaders and law enforcement officials will ensure that offenders face hard time in prison."

"PSN is a key component in our attack on violent crimes," said U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger. "This initiative has three parts in Minnesota. First, we have coordinated prosecutive and investigative efforts among the U. S. Attorney's Office, the county attorneys, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and local law enforcement. Second, we are seeking out anyone who possesses a gun while using drugs; these people present a clear and present danger to our safety. Finally, we are aggressively pursuing those engaged in illegal gang activity in the Twin Cities and in Minnesota's Indian communities. The message is clear: if you use a gun to commit a crime, you will do the greatest amount of prison time allowed by law."

The Project Safe Neighborhoods conference provided training on topics from enforcement strategies to getting gun violators off the streets, to school programs to prevent violence, to community partnership building initiatives. The conference continues Project Safe Neighborhoods' unprecedented coordination between all levels of government to implement a national strategy to prevent gun violence on a local level and pursue the strongest possible punishment for those who violate firearms laws.

The national PSN conference was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice in partnership with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, National District Attorneys' Association, and the National Crime Prevention Council.

For more information and a list of local PSN participants, please visit the PSN website at www.psn.gov.

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