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Project Safe Neighborhoods

Project Safe Neighborhoods

What is Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)?

Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide initiative that brings together federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and community leaders to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.

About Project Safe Neighborhoods

Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide initiative that brings together federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and community leaders to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.

In an effort to reduce violent crime, the Department of Justice has taken steps to strengthen the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program and other initiatives. 

District of Kansas’ Project Safe Neighborhoods Program (PSN) Highlights

  • Building a PSN program in close collaboration with local law enforcement, prosecutors and community groups
  • Targeted enforcement and prosecution
  • Investigated a major drug distribution ring: Dozens of offenders arrested so far.
  • Preemptive and preventive efforts through community groups and parole offices.

PSN Target Areas: Garden City and Wichita

United States Attorney: Kate E. Brubacher

Contact: Law Enforcement Coordinator, Scott Nace 913-551-6730.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas has developed two PSN program target enforcement areas: 1) Garden City, Kan., and 2) Wichita, Kan.

Garden City: Garden City in the southwest corner of Kansas has a population of about 28,000. The violent crime rate in Garden City is higher than average for Kansas communities. Garden City is a four-hour drive from Wichita. The Garden City Police Department is our local law enforcement partner.

  • Partnerships: The Garden City Police Department welcomed the opportunity of being a part of the enhanced PSN program. We also are working with the Finney County Sheriff’s Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, local probation/parole offices, the Finney County attorney, and community groups. Our goal is to do targeted enforcement and prosecution, as well as preemptive and preventive efforts through the probation/parole offices and community groups.
     
  • Successes: Our targeted enforcement efforts in Garden City quickly met with success. With the Garden City Police Department, we developed a list of 120 potential targets involved in a major drug distribution ring. Dozens of offenders were arrested and were facing federal or state criminal charges. We are not just using one-felon, one-gun charges. We are using charges for drug crimes, immigration crimes and financial crimes to remove dangerous offenders from the community.

Wichita: Wichita is a city of more than 390,000 in south central Kansas.

Partnerships: The leadership of the Wichita Police Department expressed concern about a spike in violent crime in Wichita over a period of six years. Chief Gordon Ramsay personally contacted former U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister to discuss collaborating on PSN efforts. The WPD is devoting substantial resources to a cooperative effort, including having Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives work in-house with the WPD.

Successes: On Nov. 11, 2018, former U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister joined the Wichita Police Department in announcing Operation Save-A-Casing. The program was created through a partnership with law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal level and the community to combat firearm-related crime. The program is supported by a $493,000 grant from PSN.

 

Recent PSN Press Releases