Project Safe Neighborhoods

The Western District of Texas (WDTX) is comprised of 68 counties, 93,000 square miles, over 660 miles along the U.S./Mexican border, and two time zones. No other district covers nearly as much border with Mexico. Due to the proximity of the Mexican border, the WDTX works to disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations that employ violence on both sides of the border. The WDTX leads the nation in immigration arrests and prosecutions. Transnational gangs affect virtually all corners of the WDTX through narcotics, firearms, and human smuggling. The WDTX’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) objective is to reduce the violent crime in the entire District, through interrupting organized criminal activity, arresting the shooters, and aggressive immigration enforcement. The WDTX works closely with all of its state, local and federal law enforcement in a joint effort to reduce illegal immigration, violence and firearm crime.  As a part of that effort, the WDTX conducts robust outreach to the community by increasing public awareness and collaboration.   

San Antonio is the largest city in the WDTX and is home to many PSN efforts. In addition, San Antonio is a Public Safety Partnership (PSP) site.

One of the WDTX's PSN initiative focuses on the issue of stolen firearms from vehicles. San Antonio has the 5th highest rate of firearm thefts from vehicles in the United States. In 2024 alone, 2,613 firearms were stolen from vehicles. These stolen firearms enter illegal online markets and are used in violent crimes locally, across Texas, and internationally. Stolen firearms have been used in shootings of San Antonio Police Officers and in other violent acts. This is both a prevention objective and an enforcement objective. In fact, they work hand in hand. The prevention objective is to engage in a public awareness campaign to ask citizens to not leave their guns in their cars. A locked car is not a secure car. The enforcement objective aims to interrupt the market for stolen guns, as we know guns stolen from vehicles are sold to criminals. Simply put, criminals use stolen guns. If citizens stop leaving their guns in their cars, the number of shootings will greatly decline because the gun source will be disrupted. It is a crime problem that can stop today.

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. Since its inception in 2001, approximately $2 billion has been committed to this initiative. This funding has being used to hire new federal and state prosecutors, support investigators, provide training, distribute gun lock safety kits, deter juvenile gun crime, and develop and promote community outreach efforts as well as to support other gun and gang violence reduction strategies. 

For more information, please log onto: Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)