NCJ Number
160611
Date Published
Unknown
Length
37 pages
Annotation
This report describes an interagency initiative begun in April 1994 to address the problems of violent crime and drug law offenses in East St. Louis, Ill.; the program focuses not only on law enforcement and prosecution but on efforts to address basic causes through community development and school-based programs.
Abstract
The initiative is a cooperative venture involving law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, neighborhood organizations, and religious institutions to reclaim the city, neighborhood by neighborhood. Twelve Federal, State and local agencies have committed resources to the project, including personnel on a permanent parttime basis. The United States Marshal and the District Commander of the Illinois State Police jointly lead the law enforcement part of the project. Using community policing and community prosecution strategies, prosecutors and law enforcement personnel have been meeting since April 1994 with neighborhood leaders, pastors, and educators in churches and neighborhood meetings in the targeted neighborhoods to listen to the concerns of neighborhood residents, identify the violent crime and drug problems in that neighborhood, and develop a mutual plan of action. Both covert and overt strategies are used. Footnotes and names and addresses of individuals and agencies involved