Prosecutors: Leaders in Public Safety

Clockwise from upper left: Award recipient Hon. Michael Schrunk; first conference speaker Dr. George Kelling; award recipient Hon. A. William Ritter; Hon. David Hicks; and in last photo: NCCP Director Michael Kuykendall (left) and award recipient Charles “Bud” Hollis.

“We must address disorder through a comprehensive community-wide problem-solving effort, forcing a change in behavior from disorderly acts, increasing police and prosecutor contact with and control over perpetrators of crimes of livability, and causing citizens to accept a greater role in the order and maintenance of public spaces in their community. This holds the potential for preventing and reducing crime.”
Dr. George L. Kelling addressing the National Community Prosecution Conference, April 13, 2003.

Building on this theme, Professor Kelling of Rutgers University and co-author of Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities provided the opening address at the 2nd National Community Prosecution Conference. Hosted by APRI’s National Center for Community Prosecution (NCCP) with financial support from the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs-Bureau of Justice Assistance, the conference was held in Washington, DC, from April 13-16, 2003. Dr. Kelling emphasized the critical role of prosecutors in preserving the fabric of the nation’s neighborhoods by working with their communities to address quality of life and low-level criminal offenses.

Plenary sessions examined the history of community prosecution while also highlighting new areas of emphasis, including homeland security. Twenty separate small group presentations addressed a wide variety of topics, including office management issues, forming effective partnerships, addressing the challenges of the mentally ill, a tactical guide to problem bars and liquor stores, community prosecution in small jurisdictions, effective use of the media and problem solving courts.

The conference, attended by more than 250 prosecutors and allied professionals from across the country, as well as prosecutors from Sweden and Japan, celebrated the successes of the community prosecution movement over the past decade and addressed specific challenges still to be met.

Hon. Deborah Daniels, assistant attorney general, Office of Justice Programs, provided the Keynote Luncheon Address and applauded the efforts of community prosecutors to utilize both traditional and non-traditional approaches to combating neighborhood livability issues. Special recognition was given to three longtime leaders in the community prosecution movement—District Attorney Michael Shrunk, Portland, OR; District Attorney A. William Ritter, Denver, CO; and Charles “Bud” Hollis, Senior Policy Advisor for Adjudication, Bureau of Justice Assistance, each received APRI’s 2003 Community Prosecution Award.

Attendees also heard from Hon. Paul McNulty, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and David Hicks, commonwealth’s attorney for Richmond, Virginia, who underscored the leadership role prosecutors play in dealing with public safety concerns. They cited Richmond’s Project Exile program to reduce gun violence as an excellent example of how community prosecution techniques are utilized to successfully address community-wide concerns.

For more information on this or other community prosecution topics, please contact APRI’s National Center for Community Prosecution at (703) 518-4386; communityprosecution@ndaa-apri.org; or visit our Web site: http://www.ndaa-apri.org.