Project Safe Neighborhoods

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)

United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California

A Comprehensive, Data Informed and Collaborative Effort to Reduce Violent Crime within the Central District of California

About Project Safe Neighborhoods

Launched in 2001, the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program is a nationwide initiative that brings together federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials, prosecutors, community leaders, and other stakeholders to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. 

PSN is coordinated by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in the 94 federal judicial districts throughout the 50 states and U.S. territories.  PSN is customized to account for local violent crime problems and resources. 

Across all districts, PSN follows four key design elements of successful violent crime reduction initiatives: community engagement, prevention and intervention, focused and strategic enforcement, and accountability.  

A major goal of PSN is to incorporate research and data analysis, and lessons learned from other violent crime reduction initiatives, to inform its decision-making on the most effective violence reduction strategies. 

Violent Crime Reduction Efforts

On May 26, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN so that it is built on newly articulated core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results of our efforts.  The Department of Justice expressly underscores that the fundamental goal of this work is to reduce violent crime in the places we call home, not to increase the number of arrests or prosecutions as if they were ends in themselves

Project Safe Neighborhoods - Task Force Areas Within the Central District of California

In an effort to reduce violent crime, especially gang crime, the City of San Bernardino and the City of Los Angeles Police Department’s Southeast and 77th Patrol Divisions have been identified as PSN focus areas. These communities are current recipients of PSN grant funding and have statistically high levels of violent crime compared to other areas within the Central District.

Task Force meetings are convened regularly by the U.S. Attorney’s Office along with local law enforcement, community, and faith-based organizations. Task Force meetings serve as an opportunity to address challenges collectively as a community, leverage available federal resources, including training and technical assistance from subject matter experts on a myriad of topics, and explore additional violent crime reduction funding efforts.

To find out about more about Project Safe Neighborhoods, contact the PSN Coordinator listed below or visit the PSN website.

Jennifer Chou, Assistant United States Attorney
Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator
jennifer.chou@usdoj.gov

Joshua Mausner, Assistant United States Attorney
Deputy Section Chief, General Crimes Section
Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator
joshua.mausner@usdoj.gov