Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Dallas Crime Rates Significantly Reduced with Project Safe Neighborhoods
Crime rates in Dallas, Texas are decreasing as a result of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told the Dallas Police Department in a speech today.
In Dallas alone, PSN has reduced violent crime in high-profile areas by about 20 percent since its establishment in 2001. In the last eight months, Dallas’s PSN Task Force has successfully arrested more than 120 violent criminals, according to Whitaker.
PSN is the “centerpiece” of the Trump administration’s national crime reduction strategy. PSN links law enforcement officials and local community leaders and organizations to assess and reduce violent crimes.
In the U.S., PSN has helped to prosecute the highest number of violent criminals in history, according to Whitaker. Charges for firearm defendants have increased by 30 percent since 2016 and prosecutions for illegal entry, corporate crimes, and drug offenders have increased by 38 percent. Meanwhile, murder rates in the U.S. are dropping, decreasing by nearly 8 percent this year.
Whitaker is excited about the new achievements he believes PSN will make under President Trump’s administration. The Dallas PSN Task Force will earn an additional $700,000 in 2019 from the Justice Department to fund their successful efforts.
Whitaker, who ran his own PSN initiative for six years, told the Dallas Police Department that “PSN works because it empowers our people out in the field. Rather than having Washington, D.C. dictate a top-down, uniform approach, PSN directs [U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas] Erin and our other U.S. Attorneys to work with their communities to develop a customized crime reduction plan to target the most violent criminals in the most violent areas.”
PSN law enforcement officials and community members are essential for preventing tragedies like the 2016 fatal attack in Dallas that killed five officers and injured seven and the attack about a week ago in Brooklyn, NY, where an officer was shot in the shoulder, Whitaker said.
Whitaker also notes that PSN has established rehabilitation efforts for incarcerated offenders of these violent crimes. The Dallas PSN Task Force works with prisoners to adjust back into normal life after prison, meeting with about 300 of these men and women each month. In total, over 2,400 formerly incarcerated people have attended these meetings for guidance.
Additionally, the Dallas PSN Task Force has held more than 60 community events, bringing together a wide range of people, including law enforcement officers, local government officials, school personnel, and 15 different community organizations. “At one event--the Community Unity Festival--you [Dallas PSN Task Force] had more than 1,000 guests. Even for Texas, that’s a lot of people,” Whitaker said.
Additional information about Project Safe Neighborhoods can be found here.
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