United States Attorney Joined by 17 Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement

ALBANY, NEW YORK – United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian was joined today by seventeen other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to announce the initiation of the LEADership – Legal Education And Decision-making – Project in the enlarged City School District of Troy.

"The LEADership Project is a crime prevention program designed to reach the youngest members of our communities – all 5

th grade students in the Enlarged City of Troy School District – and to teach them Legal Education And Decision-making skills, skills which will help them to avoid gangs, drugs and violence and lead productive, law abiding lives.," said U.S. Attorney Hartunian. "With the LEADership Project we hope to accomplish two goals: first, to increase the awareness of our youth, specifically Troy’s 5th graders, about the dangers that gangs present to them and their communities, by discussing the myths of gang life, and letting them hear from a former gang member that gang life really amounts to ‘no life’. The second thing we hope to accomplish, in furtherance of Attorney General Eric Holder’s Smart on Crime initiative, is to build greater trust between Troy’s community members and the law enforcement officials who put their lives on the line every day to preserve public safety."

Joining the U.S. Attorney in today’s announcement were the heads of the following agencies, all participating in the project:

• United States Attorney’s Office

• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

• Federal Bureau of Investigation

• Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations

• Transportation Security Administration

• United States Coastal Guard- Sector New York

• United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement- Homeland Security Investigations

• United States Marshals Service

• United States Postal Inspection Service

• United Sates Postal Service Office of the Inspector General

• United States Probation and Pretrial Services

• New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision