Project Safe Neighborhoods

Reducing Gun and Gang Violence is a top priority of the Northern District of Indiana U.S. Attorney's Office. The Office utilizes a comprehensive, strategic approach to reducing gun crime in America by linking together federal, state, and local law enforcement, prosecutors and community leaders.
The Northern District of Indiana’s Initiative is part of a nation-wide commitment to reduce gun and gang violence by networking existing local programs that target gun/gang crime and providing those programs with additional tools necessary to be successful. The goal is to take a hard line against gun criminals and gang offenders through every available means in an effort to make our streets and communities safer. This program seeks to achieve heightened coordination among federal, state and local law enforcement, with an emphasis on tactical intelligence gathering, more aggressive prosecutions and enhanced accountability through performance measures.

To implement the program, each United States Attorney's Office has designated a PSN Coordinator who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the initiative. The Department monitors the progress of the initiative through reports submitted by each United States Attorney. In addition, the Department established a point-of-contact for each district to assist with implementation issues and created the Firearms Enforcement Assistance Team (FEAT) to support the program overall. To help ensure that each district developed the skills it needed to implement the initiative, OJP has funded a comprehensive network of training and technical assistance providers, and hosts a PSN National Conference approximately every 18 months. Individual districts also have received grant funding, through a local fiscal agent, for each year of the program.

In 2006, in response to the growing problem of violent gangs across the country, the Department expanded Project Safe Neighborhoods to include a focus on gangs and gang violence. The goal is to use strategies and partnerships with state and local law enforcement and communities pioneered under PSN to shut down violent gangs in America. As a result, although PSN remains "America's Network Against Gun Violence," each federal judicial district has incorporated anti-gang efforts into its PSN program.