The united states attorney's office eastern district (usao) program is anchored on "take back north carolina", in order to combat violent crime, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement

The United States Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded $191,588 under the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) formula grant program to the North Carolina Gang Investigators Association. The PSN program aims to reduce gun and gang violence through coordinated enforcement, prevention, intervention, and reentry efforts across federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and community partners in the 44 counties of Eastern North Carolina. Key services include regional assignment of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, strategic targeting of gangs and repeat offenders, call-in meetings with at-risk individuals to deliver deterrence messages and connect them to social services, and community engagement programs focused on youth education, mentoring, and violence prevention. The three-year award period runs from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2024.

Implemented in march 2018, the initiative renews the partnership between usao, district attorneys' offices, and federal state and local law enforcement agencies across the 44 counties of eastern, north carolina (44 sheriffs; 188 police departments; 15 elected district attorneys) through the regional assignment of assistant US attorney's (ausa) strategic targeting, decentralized case intake authority and public messaging. The number of violent crime incidents reported by many of the eastern district of north carolina's most dangerous cities far exceeds the national estimate of 366.7 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the FBI uniform crime report (201916), cities such as (lumberton POP. 20,484; 532 violent crimes) and (goldsboro POP. 34,085; 267 violent crimes), report an amount of violent crime equal to the national estimate, but with just a fraction of the population. The causes of violent crime within our district are wide ranging, but are primarily related to gang violence, drug trafficking to include heroin/opioids; national gang affiliates; repeat drug offenders; repeat armed felons/robberies; drug-fueled home invasions; and firearm offenses. As a complement to the enforcement strategy, "take back north carolina" utilizes call-in meetings with at-risk individuals, as well as reentry, community engagement, and youth education programs to prevent additional violence. The district's PSN program also utilizes call-in meetings with individuals identified as at-risk for committing future violent acts. These meetings are conducted in partnership with federal, state and local law enforcement officers; community based social service providers; business leaders; and faith-based community to communicate a deterrence message by describing focused enforcement efforts and to link those individuals to services to address the root causes of violence and recidivism. Other prevention efforts include reentry programs, an outdoor summer movie series to engage the community and create public awareness about gun violence, and school-based programs, such as educating kids about gun violence, mentoring programs for at risk youth and bully prevention programs. The objective of the prevention and community engagement elements of the program is to prevent additional gun crimes by increasing the perception of risk and the perception of legitimacy of law enforcement among targeted offenders, and by connecting these individuals to necessary and desired services.