FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | BJA | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1999 | 202/307-0703 |
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 |