Programs

Combating Anti-Semitism Initiative
In the last 18 months, hate crimes against Jews have increased with shocking regularity and violence. Armed attackers have assailed Jewish worshippers in synagogues, shoppers in a kosher Jewish market, and Hanukkah celebrants in a rabbi’s home. Other incidents targeting the Jewish people have included vandalism of Jewish synagogues, schools and cemeteries. The Department of Justice and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania are committed to addressing and combating hate crimes against Jews and ensuring the safety of our Jewish communities. If you have been a victim or have knowledge of an anti-Semitic hate crime in the Western District of Pennsylvania, please contact our office’s point of contact, Assistant U.S Attorney Jessica Lieber Smolar, at 412-644-3500.

Project Safe Childhood
Project Safe Childhood (PSC) is a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. The threat of sexual predators soliciting children for physical sexual contact is well-known and serious; the danger of perpetrators who produce, distribute, and possess child pornography is equally dramatic and disturbing.

Project Safe Neighborhoods 
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun and gang crime in America by networking existing local programs that target gun and gun crime and providing these programs with additional tools necessary to be successful.

Task Forces 
Many of the Western District's major cases are the result of a collaborative effort between federal, state and local law enforcement. These group initiatives, called task forces, are designed to target a particular criminal activity, and often in a particular geographical area. We have found that combining the resources, the intelligence and the manpower of multiple law enforcement agencies to focus on a particular problem is an effective way to combat crime.

Victim Witness Assistance
Every United States Attorney's office has a Victim/Witness Assistance Program to assist victims of federal crimes. The Program seeks to provide information on rights and services to victims and witnesses of federal crimes, and to encourage the participation of victims in the criminal justice system in accordance with federal law. Federal crimes where assistance may be provided include bank and postal robberies, child pornography, financial crimes surrounding telemarketing and investment fraud, identity theft, hate crimes, as well as homicides, sexual assault, and child abuse, if the crime occurred on federal land.