Building Bridges - Volume I, Number 4, 2001
New Resources and Roles for Prosecutors: Project Safe Neighborhoods Grants to Combat Gun Violence
Prosecutors wear many hats and take on many roles. No role is more important than the prevention of crime, especially violent crime. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) recently extended the application deadline for the Community Gun Violence Prosecution Program until October 31, 2001. This program is a component of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Administration’s new national initiative to prevent gun violence.
The Community Gun Violence Prosecution Program is designed to facilitate the hiring of new prosecutors around the country to enhance the long-term ability of the nation’s prosecutors to address firearm-related violent crime. Prosecutor positions funded through this program are primarily dedicated to the prosecution of criminal cases involving firearms. However, if during the period of the award there is an insufficient number of firearm-related cases to justify a full caseload for each prosecutor funded under this program, the position(s) may be used to prosecute other criminal offenses.
APRI’s National Center for Community Prosecution is playing a major role in preparing local prosecutors for the challenges of preventing and prosecuting gun violence. Over the next month, APRI staff will visit five jurisdictions around the country to document how they have marshaled local resources to strengthen the community’s response to firearms-related crimes. The resulting publications will be available by early 2002.
Resources provided under the Community Gun Violence Prosecution Program are intended to cover 80 percent of the salary and benefits costs of full-time prosecutors, up to a maximum of $40,000 per year per prosecutor, for 3 years. Jurisdictions serving populations under 150,000 may request funding for one or two prosecutors; jurisdictions with populations over 150,000 may request funding for up to four prosecutors. For more information, please visit our web site at www.ndaa-apri.org or the BJA web site at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA.
An APRI Focus Interview: Getting Started—The Dallas, Texas Model
With the help of a planning grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, awarded in April 2001, the Dallas City Attorney’s Office undertook an intensive site selection process before launching its community prosecution initiative in two neighborhoods. This article examines how those neighborhoods were selected, and how the City Attorney’s Office started working more closely with the community.
Dallas, Texas is one of the nation’s largest cities with a population of 1,052,300 people and 378 square miles. Madeleine B. Johnson was appointed City Attorney in 1999 with a total staff of 130, including 85 attorneys. The City Attorney’s Office has jurisdiction to:
- Prosecute quality of life crimes such as hazardous buildings, public intoxication, assaults, prostitution, litter, overgrown vegetation, illegal dumping, abandoned autos, etc.; and
- File civil lawsuits against property owners who fail to abate criminal activity and fail to maintain minimum housing standards.
Dallas determined that reducing low-grade crimes and public nuisance violations would break the cyclical decay of its neighborhoods. City Attorney Johnson started out with a clearly defined objective for her program: use both the civil courts and criminal prosecutions to fight and prevent crime. Achieving this objective required not only commitment but also strategic planning and partnership building.
APRI: How did you determine that the Old East Dallas and South Dallas neighborhoods would be your areas of focus?
CA Johnson: We designed a three-step process to assist us in selecting our focus neighborhoods. Step one was analyzing Dallas Citywide Low-Grade Crime Statistics data. Using police and municipal court crime statistics, we identified five neighborhoods with high levels of low-grade crime.
Step two looked at other factors that a city attorney or prosecutor’s office might want to consider when selecting a focus neighborhood in their jurisdiction. The factors we considered important were:
- Support from community organizations;
- Available city services (e.g., police storefronts, inter-community police officers, libraries, recreation centers, parks, and environmental and health services);
- A high crime rate and large number of calls for police assistance;
- Clearly defined geographic lines;
- Potential for economic development;
- Opportunities in the neighborhood for community restitution programs;
- The number of residents who are on probation or parole;
- The number of residents who commited Class C misdemeanor offenses;
- A large number of residents who are unemployed and are on public assistance;
- Identifiable groups (e.g., property and business owners) with a vested interest in neighborhood improvement;
- A small percentage of single-family houses and a large percentage of multi-family dwellings;
- Access to transportation;
- The number of social service programs available in the community for treatment;
- And neighborhoods with an existing city resource concentration (e.g., Weed and Seed site).
Step three compared the crime statistics with the consideration factors. After a comprehensive analysis, a team representing the community, the City Attorney’s Office, the City Manager’s Office, and the Police Department staff selected the Old East Dallas and South Dallas neighborhoods as the focus of our initial efforts. Both neighborhoods have high concentrations of low-income residents, aging apartment buildings and crime.
APRI: What was your objective when you began to send assistant city attorneys into those neighborhoods?
CA Johnson: Dallas’ goal is to promote direct interaction between the City Attorney’s Office and the community. Each Neighborhood City Attorney has an office located in the assigned focus neighborhood with an open-door policy. They attend neighborhood meetings, work with the community to create crime prevention agendas and problem-solving solutions, and refer offenders to public/private agencies for treatment.
At community meetings, prosecutors and residents work together to identify local priorities, solve problems, and develop strategic plans. Each prosecutor then brings the community’s needs and problem-solving strategies to a special team, known as the A.C.T.I.O.N. (All Coming Together In Our Neighborhood) Team. Team members include residents, public/private partners, a community police officer, patrol officer, crime prevention officer, undercover officer, code inspector, fire inspector, probation officer, representatives from courts and sanitation services, Assistant U.S. Attorney, and medical professionals. The Team’s primary purpose is to implement the community’s strategic plan.
APRI: I understand that you have collaborated with a number of different agencies to form the Neighborhood Nuisance Response Unit (NNRU). Describe the unit and the impact you expect it will have on your initiative.
CA Johnson: The NNRU consists of police, fire, code enforcement and the City Attorney’s Office. This unit aggressively pursues property owners who maintain properties as havens for criminal activity. When owners fail to abate criminal activity that is brought to their attention by the NNRU, the City Attorney’s Office initiates civil nuisance lawsuits. Citizens play an active role by providing affidavits attesting to the decline of the neighborhood caused by the nuisance property and testifying in court. The NNRU brings properties into compliance, either voluntarily (95%) or through litigation (5%). NNRU works with community prosecutors to identify and crack down on slumlords who lease substandard and dilapidated housing, and to reduce the number of open and vacant hazardous structures in our focus neighborhoods.
APRI: Where can people get more information?
CA Johnson: Dallas is always ready to lend a helping hand. They can call our office at 214-670-3519, or go to our website at http://www.dallascityhall.com/dallas/html/city_attorney.html.
News in Our Community
THANK YOU, CLIFF! APRI would like to congratulate Cliff Keenan on his promotion to head the United States Attorney’s Office’s Superior Court Division for the District of Washington, DC. In his new role, he will be supervising 175 lawyers and directing all criminal prosecutions for the USAO. As many of you know, Cliff Keenan has been an Assistant United States Attorney on detail to the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs as Counsel for Community Prosecution. In that capacity, Cliff has been a faculty member at all of APRI’s trainings for the past two years and has been an outstanding advocate for community prosecution in Washington, DC and around the country. He has published numerous articles on community prosecution and given presentations to countless groups of prosecutors and law enforcement officials. Cliff has also been instrumental in designing the format of the Project Safe Neighborhoods trainings. APRI would like to thank Cliff for his efforts on behalf of community prosecutors nationwide and wish him the best of luck in his new position.
WORKSHOPS: In August, APRI-NDAA conducted an advanced community prosecution workshop in Columbia, SC at the National Advocacy Center. Fifty-seven participants and faculty from 45 different jurisdictions nationwide attended the workshop, including representatives from 8 of the 9 new BJA Leadership Grantee sites. The workshop provided a forum for community prosecutors and their supervisors to discuss issues such as combating neighborhood drug houses, abating nuisance houses, eliminating street level prostitution and drug dealing, ethical considerations, and creative ways to enforce ordinances. The participants left the workshop energized and excited about trying new ways to improve their programs and all agreed that a strong relationship between the district attorney and city attorney is essential to a successful community prosecution effort.
SITE VISITS/PRESENTATIONS: NCCP staff traveled across the country this summer educating prosecutors and other allied professionals about community prosecution. Sites visited included: Tucson, AZ; Tampa, FL; New Orleans, LA; Ocean City, MD; Newark, NJ; Union County, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Columbia, SC; and Dallas, TX. If you would like information on how to request a site visit for your jurisdiction, contact NCCP at (703) 518-4386.
LEADERSHIP MEETING: The Bureau of Justice Assistance has invited all FY2001 Leadership Grantees to attend a symposium at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on November 5, 2001 to formulate a long-range plan for community prosecution across the country. A summary of this meeting will be included in the next Building Bridges.
Contact the National Center for Community Prosecution:
Phone: 703-518-4386
Fax: 703-836-3195
E-Mail: communityprosecution@ndaa-apri.org
Website: http://www.ndaa-apri.org
Staff:
Mike Kuykendall, Director and Senior Attorney
Andrew Wright, Senior Attorney
John Morano, Senior Attorney
Teresa Ware, Staff Attorney
Roya Hanna, Staff Attorney
Tara Scully, Program Assistant
Heather Fisher, Program Assistant
Eden Miller, Legal Intern
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