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Press Release

U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis Announces Progress in Making Our Communities Safer through Project Safe Neighborhoods

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Idaho
FBI Crime in the United States Report Shows 3.9 Percent Drop in Violent Crime in 2018

BOISE – Two years ago, the Department of Justice announced the revitalization and enhancement of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the department’s violent crime reduction strategy. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Throughout the past two years, we have partnered with all levels of law enforcement, local organizations, and members of the community to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. According to FBI’s 2018 Crime in the United States Report released this week, the violent crime rate decreased for the second consecutive year, down 3.9 percent from the 2017 numbers.

“The revitalized Project Safe Neighborhoods program is a major success,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “It packs a powerful punch by combining advanced data with local leadership, further reducing violence in communities across the country and improving overall public safety. U.S. Attorneys continue to focus their enforcement efforts against the most violent criminals and work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal police. The Justice Department’s relationships across the board have never been stronger.”

“State, local, tribal, and federal partners’ cooperation has been vital to the successful implementation of Project Safe Neighborhoods in Idaho,” said U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis. “Through these combined efforts, many violent and dangerous offenders have been removed from our streets. And we are not done! Every day, these partners work to reduce violent crime across all of Idaho.”

As we celebrate the two-year anniversary of the revitalized PSN program, here are some of the highlights of our PSN actions:

Enforcement Actions

Idaho’s PSN Task Force is working together with state and local partners to seek out serious offenders that pose a risk to the community. In 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s Office increased its prosecution of violent offenders by nearly 30 percent.  The following cases exemplify some of the work accomplished by PSN.

Improvements to Community Safety

  • For the second consecutive year, the estimated number of violent crimes in the nation decreased when compared with the previous year’s statistics, according to FBI figures released today. In 2018, the number of violent crimes was down 3.3 percent from the 2017 number.
  • The 2018 national statistics show the estimated rate of violent crime was 368.9 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. The violent crime rate fell 3.9 percent when compared with the 2017 rate. While Idaho had an increase of 1.95 percent in 2018, Idaho has the lowest violent crime rate among the Western region and the sixth-lowest in the country.  Further, in 2018, Idaho experienced a 0.8 percent decrease in aggravated assault offenses, which accounts for 72.4 percent of the violent crime in Idaho.

These enforcement actions and partnerships are part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime. To learn more about Project Safe Neighborhoods, go to www.justice.gov/psn.

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Contact

CASSIE FULGHUM
Public Information Officer
(208) 334-1211

Updated October 9, 2019

Topic
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Component