Issue Position: Public Safety

Issue Position

Ensuring the safety and security of the communities of the 38th Congressional District is one of Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano's top priorities. Gang violence among youth is a particular concern among some in the communities that Napolitano represents. The Congresswoman has advocated on behalf of a number of programs to help prevent gang participation and violence among youth.

Napolitano spearheaded a school-based Latina adolescent mental health program. Over the last three years, she has secured $1.6 million for this program, through which Pacific Clinics places counselors in three local middle schools and one high school. The program has served more than 100 students. Of those students, 26% reported substance abuse and 11% had severe conduct disorders -- both key indicators of likely youth violence. Now that these students are receiving the services they need, they will be less likely to engage in violent behavior and more able to excel in school.

A lack of supervised space and activities for youth during after-school hours before parents return home from work is a key factor in youth gang participation and violence. Napolitano secured $40,000 in Fiscal Year 2002 and $90,000 in Fiscal Year 2003 for a new La Puente Youth Learning Center. The project consists of a 10,700 square foot addition to the existing Community Center. The new facility for the youth of La Puente and surrounding communities would include a computer lab, classrooms, counseling office, recreational facilities, study area, and a video/radio room. It would also provide space for a Sheriff's Department office.

Napolitano will continue to support programs and projects in all communities in the 38th Congressional District to help reduce crime, particularly among our young people. She will also be working to tackle this problem in her newest city -- Pomona.

In 2003, Congresswoman Napolitano helped bring $2 million to the California Department of Justice for the Crime Laboratory Improvement Program, and an additional $500,000 for the construction of a Police Emergency Operations Center and crime lab.

For 2004, Congresswoman Napolitano worked to achieve $150,000 in funding for the city of Pomona in order upgrade the Pomona Police Department to the new digital radio standard.

During 2005, Congresswoman Napolitano's work on the issue of crime continued to produce results, with the following local programs receiving funding: $250,000 to replace and upgrade the Montebello Police Department's computer aided dispatch and records management system, $250,000 to continue the Pomona Police Department's upgrade to the new digital radio communications standard, and $150,000 to the City of Norwalk for after school juvenile delinquency reduction programs that provide job training and academic activities.

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