NCJ Number
198990
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 65 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2003 Pages: 74-76
Date Published
February 2003
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article details the State of Delaware’s Operation Safe Streets program begun in 1997 as a Governor’s Task Force initiative on Violent Crime.
Abstract
Discussing the results of a joint study prepared by the Delaware Statistical Analysis Center and the Criminal Justice Council, the author claims that, in 1996, 91 percent of shooting suspects and 56 percent of shooting victims had at least one arrest for a violent felony on their record. Furthermore, 65 percent of suspects and 31 percent of victims had at least one weapons charge, and 49 percent of suspects and 44 percent of victims had at least one felony drug charge. In order to curb Wilmington, Delaware’s surging crime rate, Operation Safe Streets (OSS) was implemented in 1997. Following a similar program model started in Boston, OSS partnered State adult probation and parole officers with Wilmington police officers, and these specialized crime-fighting teams took to the streets to track high-risk probationers who seemed likely to be repeat offenders. The OSS program expanded statewide in 1999 to significantly reduce Delaware’s overall crime rate. The author maintains that law enforcement officers assigned to OSS credit the commitment of each participating law enforcement agency with the significant success of the program. With OSS teams making significant strides in reducing crimes, removing drugs from the streets, seizing illegal weapons, and recovering stolen property, fewer and fewer Delawareans have become new victims of crime since 1997.