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 Home > News & Policies > May 2001

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 14, 2001

Project Safe Neighborhoods Fact Sheet

The President's Plan to Promote Safe Neighborhoods

  • Project Safe Neighborhoods is a comprehensive national strategy that will create local partnerships to effectively enforce existing gun laws.  The President's plan will provide more options to prosecutors, allowing them to utilize local, state, and federal laws to ensure that criminals who commit gun crime face tough sentences.  Project Safe Neighborhoods gives each federal district the flexibility it needs to focus on individual challenges that a specific community faces.

  • Under Project Safe Neighborhoods, U.S. Attorneys appointed by President Bush will implement a gun violence reduction strategy based on five key elements:

    • 1)     Partnership:  U.S. Attorneys will partner with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies within their district to coordinate community programs that are already underway and review and prepare gun cases for prosecution in the most appropriate forum.

    2)     Strategic Planning: U.S. Attorneys will develop a plan to prosecute violent gun offenders and intensify federal gun law enforcement using state-of-the-art technology and intelligence gathering techniques such as crime mapping, tracing of seized guns and ballistic technology to help connect bullets and casings to the guns that fired them.

    3)     Training:  U.S. Attorneys will emphasize training on current trends, effective gun violence reduction efforts and firearms laws.  Federal prosecutors and agents will be trained with local prosecutors and law enforcement in order to promote better collaboration.

    4)     Effective Outreach: U.S. Attorneys will work with local communities to increase awareness of Project Safe Neighborhoods, promote community involvement and send a deterrent message.

    5)     Accountability: Project Safe Neighborhoods will measure the impact that this renewed effort is having on reducing crime and the long-term effect that this program is having rather than arrests, prosecutions and convictions.

  • Law enforcement advisors to the Project Safe Neighborhoods program include the Fraternal Order of Police, the National State Troopers Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Sheriffs Association, Major Cities Chiefs of Police, Police Executive Research Forum, National District Attorneys Association, and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.

Backing Up Project Safe Neighborhoods With Resources in FY01

  • Overall, the Bush Administration will commit over $550 million over two years to implement Project Safe Neighborhoods.

  • The Administration will make $233.6 million available this year to support Project Safe Neighborhoods including:

    • $15.3 million for 113 new Assistant United States Attorneys to serve as full-time gun prosecutors.
    • $75 million to fund approximately 600 new state and local gun prosecutors to work in partnership with federal law enforcement to reduce gun violence.
    • $44 million to improve state criminal record keeping ensuring that violent criminals are not given access to legal firearms.
    • $41.3 million to expand the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms? Integrated Violence Reduction Strategy to target criminal gun trafficking, armed violent offenders and prohibited gun buyers.
    • $28.8 million to expand and integrate FBI and ATF computerized ballistics technology.
    • $19.1 million to expand ATF's Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative.
    • Technical assistance and support to assist U.S. Attorneys in developing community outreach 'toolkits' to expand public awareness and generate an effective deterrent message.

President Bush's FY02 Budget Expands Project Safe Neighborhoods

  • The President's FY02 Budget also includes:

    • Project Sentry -- $20 million for new state prosecutors and community task forces to combat juvenile gun crime; and $9.0 million for 94 new Assistant U.S. Attorneys to focus on school gun violence and juvenile gun offenses.
    • $50 million in grants for states to hire new gun prosecutors, conduct community outreach and other gun violence reduction efforts.
    • $75 million in Project ChildSafe matching grants to states to provide safety locks for handguns.
    • $35 million in grants to improve state criminal record keeping.

The Administration's Commitment to Reducing Violent Crime

  • Project Safe Neighborhoods is just part of the President's commitment to protect Americans from gun crime and from other forms of violent crime.

  • In addition to strict enforcement of existing gun laws, the President supports expanding instant background checks to close the gun show loophole and banning the importation of high-capacity ammunition clips.

  • The President's budget protects Americans by continuing an all out assault on crime, protecting its victims and working tirelessly to deter, investigate, and prosecute those who commit Federal crimes, and incarcerate offenders.  The President has proposed overall 8% percent increases for the FBI and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and a 7% increase for the U.S. Attorneys.

  • The President has also proposed a $103 million increase for programs to reduce violence against women, as recently authorized in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 2000.  VAWA-related funding would total $391 million.