Programs
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nation-wide commitment to reduce gun crime in America and is a top priority of President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft. U.S. Attorney Jim Letten is making this program one of the top priorities in the office. The murder rate in New Orleans continues to rise, the number of convicted felons that roam the streets with firearms is increasing, and the number of young people addicted to heroin is at an all-time high.
U.S. Attorney Letten has put together a Project Safe Neighborhoods Working Group consisting of representatives from ATF, Bureau of Prisons, DEA, FBI, Gulf Coast HIDTA, HUD, Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office, New Orleans Police Department, New Orleans District Attorney's Office, Louisiana State Probation and Parole, United States Probation and Parole, and the U.S. Marshal's Service.
This Working Group meets on a regular basis to create strategies and enforcement policies, share intelligence information, and work with the community to begin meeting the expectations of our President and Attorney General. This is a very important initiative to U.S. Attorney Letten and the staff of the U.S. Attorney's Office. His hope is that this will become important to every citizen in the city of New Orleans and the Eastern District of Louisiana. This program will be a success when we can get everyone involved and the crime rate begins to decrease.
Our office is highly committed to participate and help in training new officers on the state and local level in federal firearms violations. We have sponsored a 3-day training course that gave over 100 police officers from NOPD, Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, and the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office an opportunity to learn more about weapons violations, firearms identification and tracing procedures, preparing search warrants for federal prosecutors, processing evidence, and officer safety and survival.
In keeping with our ongoing battle against violent crime, along with Project Exile and the outstanding Weed & Seed Program, we are dedicated to making Project Safe Neighborhoods a success in our community. Please go the Project Safe Neighborhoods website by clicking on the icon below or go to www.psn.gov to learn more about this program and how you can help us all make a difference.
And remember, if you know anything about any illegal guns on your street or any felons in possession of any type of firearm, please call the Gun Hotline at 581-GUNS or 1-800-ATF-GUNS. Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator AUSA Duane A. Evans.
News and Developments
Night Out Against Crime In Cooper Housing Development
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten and members of the U.S. Attorney's Office PSN team, Special Agents of ATF, NOPD Officers and an Assistant District Attorney from Orleans Parish celebrated "National Night Out Against Crime" on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 with the residents of the BW Cooper Housing Development. At BW Cooper's annual block party, the PSN team passed out school supplies consisting of PSN folders, pencils, stickers and cold drink holders to the children of the development while advertising the PSN message of the penalties of using guns when committing crimes. This night was a continuation of the U.S. Attorney's strong commitment to the PSN community outreach prong of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program.
PSN Community Engagement With BW Cooper Housing Development
In January, 2004, members of the US Attorney's Office PSN team, along with representatives of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the New Orleans Police Department, began a community engagement with concerned citizens of the BW Cooper Housing Development. The purpose of the engagement was to improve the quality of life for all residents of BW Cooper. Through numerous meetings, strategy sessions and luncheons, the entire group came together with three short-term goals that could be reached in a 90-day period. These were: improve the exterior and interior lighting situation; remove graffiti; and remove abandoned cars. With the help of numerous organizations throughout the city, which included, the the Mayor's Office, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, Entergy, a local Explorers group, HANO, and HUD, all of these goals were reached. The success was celebrated with a luncheon on April 16, 2004 wherein U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, Mayor Ray Nagin, Police Superintendent Eddie Compass, among others, applauded the BW Cooper citizens and the law enforcement community for working together to achieve these goals and improve the quality of life in BW Cooper. U.S. Attorney Letten highlighted that this was only the end of Phase I of this engagement and that his office and the BW Cooper residents will be meeting to begin Phase II and accomplish even greater goals.
2004 Project Safe Neighborhoods National Conference Kansas City, MO - June, 2004
Attorney General John Ashcroft this week brought together over 1,150 federal, state, and local prosecutors, law enforcement officials, community leaders, and other members of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) teams from across the nation to discuss efforts to reduce and prosecute gun crime. PSN is President Bush's comprehensive initiative to combat gun crime in America by providing locally-based programs with the tools and resources they need to succeed.
"Through Project Safe Neighborhood's unprecedented partnership of state, local and federal leaders, we are turning the tide on gun crime," said Attorney General John Ashcroft. "We are taking gun-wielding criminals off our streets. The last three years represent a record of great success, but working together, we can do even more to make our neighborhoods safe."
From FY 2000 to FY 2003, federal firearms prosecutions increased by 68%. In FY 2003, the Justice Department filed over 10,500 federal firearms cases-the highest number ever recorded by the Department. The number of defendants charged with federal gun crimes rose from approximately 10,600 to over 13,000 from FY 2002 to FY 2003, a record increase of almost 23%. These figures are the highest on record in a single year since the Department began recording this information. In FY 2003, nearly all - 93% - of convicted defendants, who were originally charged with federal firearms offenses, were sentenced to some time in prison for convictions on firearms charges or other charges. 72% were sentenced to more than three years in prison, and over half of all defendants convicted were sentenced to more than five years in federal prison. State and local prosecutions have also increased.
The violent crime rate is now at its lowest level since 1973, when the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics started collecting criminal victimization data. The violent crime rate for the first two years of the Bush Administration (2001-2002) was nearly 21% lower than for 1999-2000. The per capita number of violent crimes involving firearms has dropped 14% in 2001-2002, from 1999-2000. There were approximately 64,000 fewer gun crimes and approximately 12% (almost 130,000) fewer victims of gun crime in 2001-2002, than in 1999-2000.
Gun crime reduction is President Bush's top domestic criminal justice initiative, and the Bush Administration has devoted over $1 billion to Project Safe Neighborhoods in its first four years (FY 2001 to FY 2004). The funds have been used to hire new federal, state, and local prosecutors, provide training, hire research and community outreach support, and develop and promote effective prevention and deterrence efforts.
Across America, 94 PSN task forces are working to implement a coordinated strategy to reduce gun crime. Working side by side with the state, local and federal law enforcement participants in their communities, the U.S. Attorney and his or her colleagues in each region have identified the most pressing gun crime problems and developed strategies to attack those problems through prevention, deterrence, and aggressive prosecution. Each local program is tailored to fit the unique gun crime problem in that district.
The members representing the Eastern District of Louisiana's PSN program included representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office, ATF, New Orleans Police Foundation, and UNO Center for Society Law and Justice and are pictured below with Attorney General John Aschroft. ATF Special Agent Michael Eberhardt of the New Orleans Division was also honored at the awards banquet held on the first night of the conference receiving an award in the category of "Outstanding Individual Contribution to a Gun Crime Task Force."
Operation Scarecrow
This new strategy under the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative is only one of the results of the outstanding work between the local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. Operation Scarecrow is a program aimed to stop "straw purchasing" of firearms - which is, the purchasing of a firearm for a convicted felon who under the law is not allowed to own a firearm. This task force will be targeting the individuals who will be buying these firearms, filling out the paperwork, and giving them to the unauthorized person. U.S. Attorney Jim Letten has filmed a public service announcement warning all citizens about straw purchasing the repercussions of being involved in the illegal activity.
PSN National Conference
On January 28, 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice sponsored the Project Safe Neighborhoods National Conference in Philadelphia, PA. Law enforcement personnel were in attendance from all of the districts in the United States. The conference, the largest ever devoted to combating gun violence, included taped remarks by President George W. Bush, addresses by Attorney General John Ashcroft, Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, ATF Director Brad Buckles, and others.
Over 1400 participants from United States Attorneys'' offices, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and state and local law enforcement agencies attended this landmark event including a delegation from the Eastern District of Louisiana pictured to the right (click here for enlargement with delagatee list).
During the first two years of PSN, federal gun crime prosecutions have increased by 32 percent. In 2002 alone, nearly 8,000 armed criminals were taken off the streets with 71 percent of them receiving at least a three year prison sentence. These successes could not have been achieved without the many federal, state, and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors working together.
Saintly PSN PSA Program
The U.S. Attorney's Office was very fortunate that New Orleans Saints Kyle Turley agreed to promote Project Safe Neighborhoods by filming a public service announcement that has been running on our local stations for the past several months. In the PSA, Mr. Turley addresses both the offender and the community by stressing the penalties of possession an illegal firearm as well as asking citizens to help make a difference. Mr. Turley did not hesitate when asked if he would take part in this promotion, stating, as he does in the PSA, that New Orleans is where he lives and he wants to make a difference, "how about you?"
