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Press Release
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WASHINGTON - Attorney General Merrick B. Garland today announced a new Department of Justice effort to help protect our communities from the recent increase in major violent crimes.
“Today, we renew our commitment to reducing violent crime and building strong communities where all Americans are safe,” said Attorney General Garland. “The Deputy Attorney General is issuing a comprehensive strategy to deploy our federal resources in the most effective way, disrupting the most dangerous threats and supporting the ground-level efforts of local law enforcement. In this endeavor, we will engage our communities as critical partners. And through our grantmaking, we will support programming at all stages – from the earliest violence interruption strategies to post-conviction reentry services.”
The strategy announced today is three-pronged. First, it establishes a set of four fundamental principles to be applied Department-wide to guide violent crime reduction:
The whole-of-Department approach means that these four fundamental principles will guide not only the Department’s 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices, but also its law enforcement components (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the United States Marshals Service (USMS)), its grant-making components (the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and the Office of Victims of Crime (OVC)), and litigating divisions, such as the Criminal Division.
Second, the strategy enhances the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program by directing all U.S. Attorneys across the country to update their PSN programs to be aligned with the Department’s guiding principles to improve community engagement, support proven community-violence intervention programs, develop strategic enforcement plans in coordination with state, local, and Tribal law enforcement partners as well as community groups, and measure the effectiveness of these collective efforts to reduce violence. By drawing on lessons learned from research and experience over the past two decades, the Department will help ensure that PSN remains the leading initiative bringing together law enforcement partners at all levels and a broad array of community stakeholders to develop comprehensive solutions to the more pressing violent crime problems in our communities.
Third, the strategy directs each U.S. Attorney’s Office to work with its state, local, federal, Tribal, and community partners to establish an immediate plan to address spikes in violent crime that are typically seen during the summer.
The Department recognizes that there is no one-size-fits-all solution and that the needs of each jurisdiction will vary based on the nature of violent crimes and the ability of local criminal justice systems to respond. Thus, the Department has committed to providing the following additional support where it is needed and appropriate:
To learn more, see the Deputy Attorney General’s detailed guidance to federal prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, and other components across the Department of Justice. A Fact Sheet on 2021 Grant Opportunities and Other Resources to Support Violent Crime Reduction can be found here.