Today, Congressman Dave Reichert (R-WA), a law enforcement veteran of 33 years, made the following statement after his amendment to increase funding for Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal grant program to combat gang violence and gun-related crimes, passed the House.
"Project Safe Neighborhoods is the proven answer to the violent gun-related crimes that have plagued our cities," said Rep. Reichert. "This data-driven program has proven to be effective by sending potential criminals a clear message that there will be consequences if they use guns unlawfully. I saw this for myself when I oversaw the program as Sheriff of King County. I am pleased that my colleagues came together to support this commonsense approach to making our cities safer for all individuals."
Additional Background:
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a grant program administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and is designed to create safer neighborhoods through a sustained reduction in crime associated with gang and gun violence. The program's effectiveness is based on the cooperation of local, state, and federal agencies engaged in a unified approach led by the U.S. Attorney in each district. The U.S. Attorney is responsible for establishing a collaborative PSN task force of federal, state, and local law enforcement and other community members to implement gang and gun crime enforcement, intervention, and prevention initiatives within the district. The purpose of PSN is to reduce gun crime and gang violence by the most violent offenders in the most violent neighborhoods by employing a research-driven, intelligence-led, and problem-solving approach to reduce firearms and gang violence through enforcement, deterrence, and prevention.