Community
Indian Country & Public Lands
Approximately 87 percent of Nevada’s lands are owned and managed by the federal government and its agencies, including the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Department of Energy, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Nevada’s wide ranging public lands give rise to many land management issues, such as grazing and water rights; Native American Claims; resource protection; claims in defense of the environment; wild horses; safety of federal officers, and state’s rights. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada has jurisdiction to prosecute individuals who commit offenses on these public lands, and also represents the United States in civil actions filed on behalf of or against the land management agencies.
Nevada is home to 31 Indian Tribes & Reservations. The United States Attorney’s Office has jurisdiction to prosecute felonies occurring on these reservations. The staffed branch office in Reno, Nevada, handles the majority of the cases that originate on Nevada Indian lands.
Project Safe Neighborhoods
PROJECT SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS/ANTI-GANG INITIATIVE
Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in America by networking existing local programs that target gun crime and providing these programs with additional tools necessary to be successful. Since it was begun in 2001, Project Safe Neighborhoods, or PSN, has provided approximately $2 billion to hire new prosecutors, support investigators, provide training, deter juvenile gun crime, and develop community outreach efforts and other gun violence reduction measures. To date, the efforts of PSN task forces have yielded strong results, including: In FY 2007, the Department prosecuted 12,087 defendants on federal firearms cases. Nearly 94 percent of those offenders received prison terms and nearly 75 percent were sentenced to three or more years in prison. From FY 2001 to 2007, the Department of Justice has filed 68,543 cases against 83,106 defendants for federal firearms violations. This represents more than a 100 percent increase in cases filed over the prior seven year period.
Part of this effort includes the Southern Nevada PSN Task Force, a team of law enforcement officers and prosecutors who meet on a weekly basis to discuss arrests involving guns and explosives. From 2002 to 2007, Las Vegas PSN Task Force members screened over 2,700 cases for prosecution, and over 800 individuals were charged with federal firearms offenses. A like number were prosecuted by the Clark County District Attorney’s Office and sentenced in the state court system. During the same period, federal prosecutors in Reno charged over 240 persons with federal firearm offenses.
In February 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a plan to combat gang violence across America. The Department’s strategy is twofold: First, prioritize prevention programs to provide America's youth, as well as offenders reentering the community, with opportunities that help them resist gang involvement. Second, ensure robust enforcement policies when gang-related violence does occur. The Attorney General's Anti-Gang initiative is summarized at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2008/August/08-opa-705.html. The initiative will build on the effective partnerships and strategies developed through PSN to support anti-gang enforcement and prevention efforts and to provide training and technical assistance.
For Fiscal Year 2008, DOJ dedicated more than $17 million to combat gangs and gun crime around the country through locally organized Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) task forces.
The following PSN/Anti-Gang grants and awards have been made to Nevada partners in order to support the elements of PSN:
FISCAL YEAR 2008:
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - $71,431
Nevada Youth Alliance - $50,000
FISCAL YEAR 2007:
PSN -
Washoe County Sheriff’s Office - $131,697
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - $25,778
Anti-Gang -
Clark County District Attorney’s Office - $165,732
Nevada Youth Alliance - $63,942
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - $41,255
FISCAL YEAR 2006:
Clark County District Attorney’s Office - $145,523
Washoe County Sheriff’s Office $32,971
Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice: $76,015
FISCAL YEAR 2005:
Clark County District Attorney’s Office - $37,404
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - $37,404
FISCAL YEAR 2004:
Washoe County Sheriff's Office - $191,689
Join Together Northern Nevada - $104,673
FISCAL YEAR 2003:
Washoe County Sheriff's Office - $187,978
Join Together Northern Nevada - $102,025
Advisory Council for Prosecuting Attorneys - $10,000
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - $40,080
FISCAL YEARS 2001 & 2002:
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - Media Outreach and Community Engagement Award ($170,000)
21st Century Solutions, Inc. - Research Partner/Crime Analyst Award ($150,000)
Clark County District Attorney's Office - Project Safe Neighborhoods Community Gun Violence Prosecution Program ($480,000)
To find out about more about PSN and its local programs, visit the PSN Web site at www.psn.gov.
Questions about the District of Nevada's PSN or Anti-Gang initiatives should be directed to the District’s Public Affairs Specialist/LECC, Natalie Collins, at (702) 388-6336.
MORTGAGE FRAUD
In March 2008, a new task force was formed in order to pool the considerable resources of the federal, state, and local agencies in Nevada to aggressively combat mortgage fraud. Members of the Southern Nevada Mortgage Fraud Task Force, include the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the United States Secret Service. Persons who have information concerning potential mortgage fraud may contact the Southern Nevada Mortgage Fraud Hotline at (702) 584-5555.
Project Safe Childhood (PSC) is a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. The threat of sexual predators soliciting children for physical sexual contact is well-known and serious; the danger of perpetrators who produce, distribute, and possess child pornography is equally dramatic and disturbing. The Department of Justice is committed to the safety and well-being of every child and has placed a high priority on combating sexual exploitation of minors. Through a network of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations, PSC coordinates efforts to protect our children by investigating and prosecuting online sexual predators. PSC is implemented through a partnership of U.S. Attorneys; Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces; federal partners, including the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service; advocacy organizations such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; and state and local law enforcement officials in each U.S. Attorney’s district. Between 2002 and 2008, over 200 individuals have been charged and convicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada with crimes involving the use of the internet to exploit children. These crimes include: manufacturing, transporting, and receipt of child pornography, online enticement of children for sexual acts, and traveling with the intent to engage in sex with a minor. Most of these individuals have been sentenced to lengthy periods of federal imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
OPERATION WEED AND SEED
A strategy within the U.S. Department of Justice Community Capacity Development Office (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ccdo) that incorporates community-based initiatives. It is an innovative and comprehensive multi-agency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and community revitalization. Operation Weed and Seed aims to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in targeted high-crime neighborhoods across the country. The strategy involves a two-pronged approach: law enforcement agencies and prosecutors cooperate in "weeding out" criminals who participate in violent crime and drug abuse, attempting to prevent their return to the targeted area; and "seeding" brings human services to the area, encompassing prevention, intervention, treatment, and neighborhood revitalization. A community-orientated policing component bridges weeding and seeding strategies. Officers obtain helpful information from area residents for weeding efforts, while they aid residents in obtaining information about community revitalization and seeding resources.
The District of Nevada has two officially-recognized Weed and Seed sites: one in Northeast Reno, and another in Southeast Reno. The Reno strategy includes identifying, arresting and prosecuting gang members and drug dealers in the targeted areas, community policing, such as the Adopt-A-School Program which connects local law enforcement officers to schools, students and parents, a Student Technology and Education Program (STEP); a Training, Employment, and Computer Lab (TEC); Strictly Business, which teaches youth about investment and small business principles; and Beauty & Beyond, a self-esteem building program for teenage girls.