U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin Announces Progress in Making our Communities Safer through Project Safe Neighborhoods and PSN Grant Funding

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- One year ago today, the Department of Justice announced the revitalization and enhancement of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which Attorney General Sessions has made 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 year, 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.

The Department of Justice has also announced that the Middle District of North Carolina will receive $298,143 in PSN grant funding to strengthen PSN programs in this district.

“Project Safe Neighborhoods is a proven program with demonstrated results,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “We know that the most effective strategy to reduce violent crime is based on sound policing policies that have proven effective over many years, which includes being targeted and responsive to community needs. I have empowered our United States Attorneys to focus enforcement efforts against the most violent criminals in their districts, and directed that they work together with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community partners to develop tailored solutions to the unique violent crime problems they face. Each United States Attorney has prioritized the PSN program, and I am confident that it will continue to reduce crime, save lives, and restore safety to our communities.”

“Over the past year, the data shows that PSN has contributed to a decrease in violent crime. Our local partners in each PSN site deserve tremendous credit. Where PSN is implemented properly, it has benefitted entire communities by identifying and punishing the most violent offenders and reducing the number of re-offenders by assisting persons released from prison to become productive members of society. The $300,000 grant will really help strengthen and expand our PSN programs,” U.S. Attorney Matthew G.T. Martin said.

Improvements to Community Safety

• The FBI’s official crime data for 2017 reflects that, after two consecutive, historic increases in violent crime, in the first year of the Trump Administration the nationwide violent crime rate began to decline. The nationwide violent crime rate decreased by approximately one percent in 2017, while the nationwide homicide rate decreased by nearly one and a half percent.

• The preliminary information DOJ has for 2018 gives reason for optimism that our efforts are continuing to pay off. Public data from 60 major cities show that violent crime was down by nearly five percent in those cities in the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period a year ago.

As of October 1, 2018, the Middle District of North Carolina has PSN programs in the following locations:

• Cabarrus County

• Davidson County

• Lee County

• Greensboro

• High Point

• Rockingham County

• Rowan County

• Winston-Salem

Several additional PSN sites are being developed in the Middle District of North Carolina.

History of The Middle District of North Carolina’s Pioneering Efforts in PSN

Some of the seeds of what became Project Safe Neighborhoods were first planted and took root here in the Middle District of North Carolina. In the late 1990’s, the Piedmont Triad was the site of a pioneering project in data-driven violence reductions efforts, starting in High Point, and then spreading to Winston-Salem and Greensboro by 2000. Principles of that initiative were incorporated into the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Project SAFE Neighborhoods gun and gang violence reduction strategy in 2001. Part of the strategy is the use of notification meetings, where repeat offenders on state supervision are called in and hear a two-part message: (1) stop the victimization and violence or you will be the focus of special attention for prosecution, and (2) partners in the community can offer assistance and services to those choosing to live within the law. Over 5,600 persons have been called in and heard that message in over 350 notification meetings in the Middle District of North Carolina since this program’s inception. There has been 20%-60% reduction in re-offending rates by those who go through notification, according to long-time research PSN partner, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Since 2001, across the Middle District, more than 50 law enforcement agencies have worked with nearly 200 community resource agencies using PSN strategies to reduce violent gun and gang crime.

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. Attorney General Jeff Sessions 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.

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