Project Safe Neighborhoods

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a nationwide Department of Justice program that brings together federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officials, prosecutors and community leaders to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them—solutions that include prevention, enforcement, and reentry efforts.

PSN is an evidence-based violent crime reduction program that takes a collaborative approach to public safety. Drawing from academic research and decades of experience, the program is based on the fundamental principle that law enforcement agencies and communities must work together to address violent crime to make our neighborhoods safer. PSN leverages law enforcement and community partnerships, along with strategic enforcement efforts, to focus on the most violent criminals in the most violent locations.

NATIONAL PSN PROGRAM

Every U.S. Attorney’s Office across the country has implemented a PSN program tailored to the needs of their respective districts. While the specific focus and implementation vary from district to district, every PSN program has five common elements:

1. Leadership by the United States Attorney to convene all partners;
2. Partnerships at all levels of law enforcement and with the community;
3. Targeted enforcement efforts that are designed to:
   • utilize the full range of available data, methods and technologies;
   • identify the offenders that are driving violent crime rates in the most violent locations in the district; and
   • ensure prosecution of those offenders in the federal, state, local or tribal system—whichever provides the most certain and appropriate sanction.
4. Prevention of additional violence by prioritizing efforts such as:
   • ensuring public awareness of the violent crime reduction strategy and enforcement results;
   • communicating directly to offenders about the consequences of continuing violent behaviors; and
   • supporting locally based prevention and reentry efforts.
5. Accountability for results based on outcome (reduction in violent crime), not merely output (numbers of investigations or prosecutions).

To find out about more about the Project Safe Neighborhoods national program, visit the U.S. Department of Justice’s PSN Website.

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA’S PSN Program

Since 2008, the Project Safe Neighborhoods program for the Northern District of California (NDCA) has focused on all three legs of addressing violent crime—enforcement, prevention and reentry. 

The Northern District of California’s outreach initiative includes identifying and empowering subject-matter outreach principals as well as county captains for each of the 15 counties in this Extra-Large District.  Each county captain is responsible for developing and fostering relationships with state and local law enforcement representatives in their particular county in an effort to provide and promote federal assistance in combating violent crime. In addition, the subject matter principals in the areas of narcotics, violent crime, and tribal issues, as well as the office’s law enforcement coordinator, are responsible for developing, increasing, and enhancing the pipeline of cases referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in these areas, which are the subject matter areas most directly correlated to the PSN program. 

By partnering with local law enforcement—Chiefs, Sheriffs and District Attorneys—and by improving the coordination with the FBI, DEA, ATF, HSI and other federal agencies in areas of high violent crime and gang, gun and drug trafficking activity, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue its success in reducing gun and gang violence through the investigation and prosecution of those cases with the highest impact.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has worked successfully with local, state and federal entities as well as community leaders and organizations to address violent crime by forging better, more aggressive, targeted and efficient anti-violence strategies. In working together, law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve can achieve critical goals with fewer resources.

Points of Contact

To reach the Northern District of California’s PSN Coordinator or Law Enforcement Coordinator, please contact:

Leif Dautch
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Northern District of California
PSN Coordinator
450 Golden Gate Avenue, 11th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 436-7534
Leif.Dautch@usdoj.gov

Annemarie Conroy
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Northern District of California
Law Enforcement Coordinator
450 Golden Gate Avenue, 11th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 436-7067
Annemarie.Conroy@usdoj.gov