PRESS RELEASE

Department of Justice Announces Ten New Public Safety Partnership Cities

      WASHINGTON — Today, the Justice Department announced 10 new National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) sites that will work with the Department of Justice, local agencies and community organizations to reduce violence in areas with elevated crime rates.  PSP serves as a Justice Department-wide initiative that enables communities to receive coordinated training and technical assistance and an array of resources from the Department’s programmatic and law enforcement components.  The 10 sites are:  Antioch, California; Aurora, Colorado; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Gary, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; North Charleston/Charleston, South Carolina; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Phoenix, Arizona; Richmond, Virginia; and Shreveport, Louisiana.

      “Violence—gun violence in particular—has taken a heavy toll on communities across the country, and its impact has been felt most deeply in neighborhoods where resources have always been scarce and justice has historically been elusive,” said Amy L. Solomon, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs, whose Bureau of Justice Assistance administers the PSP initiative.  “We are proud to join local leaders and our partners from across the Department of Justice as we work together to stem the tide of violent crime in these hard-hit communities.”

      “From five to now 50 jurisdictions in seven years, PSP has taught the Department a new way to work with communities.  We have learned that it is only by leveraging the power of community and using all our collective resources and dedicating all our efforts that we will reduce crime,” said BJA Acting Director Kristen Mahoney.  “We look forward to partnering with the 10 new sites to achieve what we are all working toward—safe places to live and work.”

      After decades of falling crime rates, statistics show that in many cities across the county violent crime increased in 2020.  To address the increase in violence, specifically gun violence, on May 26, 2021, the Attorney General announced the Department’s new Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Violent Crime.  The addition of 10 new PSP sites is one prong in that strategy.  The PSP program began as a pilot in 2014 and was formally adopted by the Department as an intensive training and technical assistance protocol in June 2017.  Sites must apply to participate.  To be considered for selection, a site must have sustained levels of violence that far exceed the national average and demonstrate a commitment to reducing crime and enhancing community engagement.

      More than 40 cities have participated in PSP in prior cohorts.  The primary participating Justice Department components include the Office of Justice Programs; the Office on Violence Against Women; the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; and the U.S. Marshals Service.

      More information about PSP can be found at: http://www.nationalpublicsafetypartnership.org.

      The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, advance racial equity in the administration of justice, assist victims and enhance the rule of law.  More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

###

OFFICE:  bja.ojp.gov
CONTACT:  Tannyr Watkins at 202-532-3923 or [email protected]