Spring 2002

Newman Flanagan

Project Safe Neighborhoods Inaugural Conference

On January 23, I joined Attorney General John Ashcroft and NDAA President Kevin Meenan at the inaugural conference for Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) at the National Advocacy Center (NAC) in Columbia, South Carolina. In attendance were 176 prosecutors, including representatives of the United States attorneys' offices and elected district attorneys or their designees. Also represented at this conference were the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Crime Prevention Council. Together these agencies form the partnership that is the keystone of this landmark law enforcement initiative. These partners will work together, as the attorney general put it, "to weave an impenetrable nationwide network of law enforcement agencies, all working together in pursuit of one common goal -- to put criminals who use guns behind bars."

To assist in the prosecution of crimes involving guns, the Department of Justice announced grant awards for the first 300 of nearly 600 local prosecutors that will be hired under PSN. The local prosecutor's role in PSN is essential because, as Kevin Meenan pointed out in his opening remarks at the NAC, "More than 99 percent of our nation's violent crimes are investigated and prosecuted locally." These local prosecutors will join forces with 113 new federal prosecutors in taking a new look at how gun offenses are prosecuted. The objective is clear -- utilize all the existing gun laws, both federal and state, to maximize the punishment of gun carrying criminals.

The staff of APRI has been studying and visiting existing gun programs around the country in an attempt to be ready to assist local prosecutors in this undertaking.  Program Manager Mike Kuykendall and Senior Attorneys Andy Wright and John Morano from our Violent Crime Program, as well as members of our Office of Research and Evaluation, have traveled to Richmond, Virginia; Houston and Fort Worth, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; Reno, Nevada; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, seeking insight from law enforcement officials who have been out front in combating gun violence. APRI has gathered a wealth of knowledge about these programs.

Recently, APRI published a monograph entitled, Combating Gun Violence: An In-depth Look at Richmond's Project Exile. More publications will follow this spring, highlighting other gun violence prosecution programs.

Finally, I am excited to announce that APRI is planning a series of trainings for new prosecutors assigned to prosecute crimes involving guns. Scheduled to begin in May, the course, entitled "Fundamentals of Firearms Prosecution," will include components of trial advocacy and search and seizure issues as well as the nuts and bolts of establishing a gun violence program. In short, APRI is locked and loaded and ready to do its part for PSN.

For information regarding PSN, contact www.projectsafeneighborhoods.gov or the APRI Violent Crime Program at gvp@ndaa-apri.org, or call APRI at (703) 518-4386.

Newman Flanagan
President, American Prosecutors Research Institute