U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Violent Crime Reduction Roadmap

Working Together to Build Safer Communities

Action 6. Place responsibility for violence reduction efforts at the top.

Blue clipboard with checkmarks and lines. Yellow circle with blue check in the center in the foreground.

Leaders inside and outside of government must maintain a consistent focus on preventing violence. Localities need dedicated teams committed to reducing violence that have direct access and responsibility to leadership.

Making reducing violence a local priority does not require outside support, but DOJ has resources to help local jurisdictions set goals, perform analyses, build collaborations, and develop plans for reducing community gun violence as listed under Actions 1, 2 and 3.

Key Resources

Smart Policing Executives

This recorded webinar facilitated by former Boston Police Commissioner, Edward Davis, discusses the central role police leaders play in formulating plans, building and sustaining partnerships, supporting analyses, and ensuring the organization embraces a learning culture.

Community Violence Intervention Implementation Checklist

Developed with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Community Violence Intervention Implementation Checklist captures background information about CVI efforts, CVI guiding principles, and details on the following specific steps to take when implementing CVI programs.

Additional Resources

Training & Technical Assistance

Project Safe Neighborhoods Training and Technical Assistance Program

BJA, in partnership with Michigan State University, the CNA Institute for Public Research, and the National Center for Victims of Crime, provides training and technical assistance in the implementation of Project Safe Neighborhoods.

Guides, Reports and Webinars

BJA Violent Crime Reduction Summit Resource Center

Resources from the BJA Violent Crime Reduction Summit designed to offer insights and tools to jurisdictions in addressing violent crime that impacts their communities.

Project Safe Neighborhoods Blueprint for Success (PDF, 4.3 MB)

This BJA resource provides background information about the DOJ initiative Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), how to build a strong PSN initiative, including the use of data and evidence, key design elements, and training and technical assistance services available.  This report also identifies and describes the implementation of the various PSN features linked to its effective performance.

Paving the Way for Project Safe Neighborhoods: SACSI in 10 US Cities (PDF, 353 KB)

The Department of Justice launched the Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) to test data-driven intervention strategies for targeted homicide, youth violence, firearm violence in 9 cities and rape and sexual assault in 1 city. The study found that the SACSI approach, when implemented effectively, is associated with reductions in targeted violent crimes, sometimes by as much as 50 percent. This report highlights the key elements that led to success of SACSI, such as leadership provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the integration of research into planning and intervention strategies, collaborative strategic planning, and implementation of various intervention strategies.

Violent Crime Reduction Operations Guide (PDF, 5.2 MB)

This BJA-sponsored, practitioner-focused guide outlines actions and activities that have contributed to successful crime-fighting strategies throughout the country. This guide complements existing conversations and offers a unique “for the field, by the field” perspective that combines best practices and research to assist law enforcement executives in assessing capacity and strategic planning.