U.S. Department
of Justice
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Launched in 2001, the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program is a nationwide initiative that brings together federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials, prosecutors, community leaders, and other stakeholders to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. The PSN Program in the Eastern District of Texas is coordinated by the United States Attorney’s Office, and is customized to account for local violent crime problems and resources throughout East Texas.
Our PSN program follows four key design elements of successful violent crime reduction initiatives: community engagement, prevention and intervention, focused and strategic enforcement, and accountability.
Because a coordinated approach has proven most effective, the Eastern District of Texas is working in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and prosecutors; community groups; victims; advocates; and local prevention programs to jointly identify the district’s most significant violent crime problems and develop a comprehensive, targeted response.
Of course, enforcement alone cannot sustainably reduce the violent crime rates in our communities. Experience and research suggest that a combination of prevention, intervention, and enforcement approaches can be highly effective in reducing violent crime when utilized together.
The overarching outcome of our efforts is to reduce violent crime in our communities, not to increase the number of arrests or prosecutions as if they were ends in themselves. Therefore, our office is also working closely with research partners from Texas Christian University to help us identify and target the most violent offenders in our district for enforcement, track our progress, and measure the success of our violent crime reduction initiatives.
The PSN Coordinators for EDTX are Assistant United States Attorneys Chalana Oliver (Plano Division), Dustin Farahnak (Tyler Division), and John Ross (Beaumont Division). Each representative can be reached at their main numbers in their respective office.
For grant information; All information regarding the PSN grant application requirements can be found online at egrants.gov.texas.gov under Funding Opportunities.
