DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER ANNOUNCES GRANTS LINKING
PROSECUTORS AND COMMUNITIES TO PREVENT CRIME

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder today announced Justice Department Community Prosecution grants to 36 communities totaling more than $4.5 million. These grants will foster collaborative efforts between local prosecutors' offices and the community to identify local priorities and develop and implement strategic crime prevention and reduction plans.

"For too long, residents in high-crime areas have had no voice in discussions that led to solutions to public safety problems that affect their lives," said Holder. "Community Prosecutors provide residents with an opportunity to participate in strategic decisionmaking, which can make their neighborhoods safer and help restore the community after being damaged by crime."

Community prosecution is a key element in community justice, which is a concept based on involving citizens in making their neighborhoods safer. Community prosecutors work directly with neighborhood residents and organizations in the communities they serve.

The grants being announced today are being made by the Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs (OJP). The program was included in the Justice Department's 1999 Appropriations Act. The Act instructed the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to transfer $5 million to OJP for the program.

"The increased focus on community policing over the last five years has brought communities and the criminal justice systems that serve them much closer," said OJP Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson. "These new community prosecution programs allow us to build on that success and will help create strong and lasting bonds among police, prosecutors, corrections, and the community."

The grants being made today will help communities plan, implement, or enhance community prosecution strategies. These communities were selected to participate in the program based on information in concept papers describing their proposed strategies. Implementation grantees are eligible to receive up to $200,000. Enhancement grantees are eligible to receive up to $150,000. Planning grantees are eligible to receive up to $75,000. Two special grants are being made to Denver, Colorado and Multnomah County, Oregon, which will serve as leadership sites. Both jurisdictions have already implemented successful community prosecution programs and will provide technical assistance to sites receiving implementation and planning grants.

"Like the overall philosophy of community justice, there is no federal blueprint or road map for community prosecution strategies," said Nancy Gist, Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, which is administering the grants within OJP. "From the bottom up, communities and criminal justice professionals are telling us where they want to go and we are working as partners to help them get there."

The Justice Department has sponsored two conferences on community justice. The conferences were designed to help local policymakers and community groups identify problems and employ the concepts of community policing, community courts, community prosecution and other approaches to create solutions. Interest in community justice has increased significantly in the past two years, reflected by the attendance at OJP-sponsored community justice conferences. The first, held in September 1996, attracted about 300 people, but the second, held in March 1998, drew over 700 people.

In March of this year, BJA made grants to five jurisdictions to establish community prosecution initiatives. Under that initiative, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office in Indianapolis, Indiana; the Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney in Spokane, Washington; the Denver District Attorney's office in Denver, Colorado; the Bronx District Attorney's office in Bronx County, New York; and the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney in Honolulu, Hawaii each received approximately $85,000 for community prosecution programs.

An attached chart includes the communities selected to receive community prosecution grants and local contact information for each program. Additional information about OJP and BJA may be found at: https://ojp.gov

BJA 99-172

After Hours Contact: Doug Johnson at 888/491-4487

The following may apply for planning grants of up to $70,000:

Jurisdiction	Contact	Phone
Baltimore, MD	Alan C. Woods	410/545-5527
Taos, NM	Allan R. Toledo, Esq.	505/751-0488
Richmond County, NY	William L. Murphy	718/876-5750
Freeborn County, MN	Craig Nelson	507/377-5192
St. Joseph, IN	Diana L. Dibkey	219/235-9544
Palm Beach County, FL	James Martz	561/355-7305
Fulton County, GA	Edison Benson	404/730-4979
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians--Manistee, MI	Johnnie J. Sam, II	616/723-8288
Lumpkin County, GA	Stan Gunter	706/864-6754
Providence, RI	William Guglietta	401/274-4400
Placer County, CA	Suzanne I. Gassaniga	530/889-7000
Westchester County, NY	Robert M. Maccarone	914/285-3460
Cincinnati, OH	Fay D. Dupuis	513/352-3334
Portsmouth, NH	Robert Ducharme	603/427-1500
Lakawanna County, PA	Michael J. Barrasse	570/963-6717
Rio Arriba, NM

The following may apply for Implementation grants of up to $200,000:

Kings County, NY	Anne Swern	718/250-3939
Brevard/Seminole County, FL	Beth Rossman	407/617-7555
Hennepin County, MN	Laura Code	612/348-7115
Milwaukee County, WI	E. Michael McCann	414/278-1955
Niagra County, NY	Matthew J. Murphy	716/439-7085
Dade County, FL	David Maer	305/324-2999
Oakland, CA	Jayne W. Williams	510/238-3814
Cuyahoga County, OH	Steven Deaver	216/443-7817
Montgomery County, MD	Douglas F. Gansler	301/217-7333

The following may apply for Enhancement grants of up to $150,000:

San Diego, CA	Gael Strack	619/533-5515
Marion County, IN	Diana Burleson	317/327-6429
Los Angeles County, CA	David E. Demerjian	213/974-3901
Chicago, IL	Norma I. Reyes	312/744-0774
Howard County, MD	Marna McLendon	410/313-3151
Phoenix, AZ	Aaron Carreon-Ainsa	602/534-2694
Seattle, WA	Robert W. Wood	206/684-7771
Cook County, IL	Bonita Brodt	312/603-4201
Pima County, AZ	Fran McNeely	520/740-5600