The southern district of ohio project safe neighborhoods (PSN) initiative will extend over 36-months including time for development of the competitive sub-award process, training, implementation,…

The U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded a $242,820 Project Safe Neighborhoods (CFDA 16.609) Formula Grant to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services. This 36-month grant will fund a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to reducing violent crime, particularly gun and gang-related violence, in the Southern District of Ohio. Key partners include federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and community-based organizations working together to develop data-driven strategies, conduct targeted enforcement, and implement violence prevention and intervention initiatives in the high-crime areas of Columbus and Cincinnati. The grant will support training, implementation, and evaluation of the project's impact on reducing Part 1 violent crimes and weapons violations in the targeted regions.

The southern district of ohio project safe neighborhoods (PSN) initiative will extend over 36-months including time for development of the competitive sub-award process, training, implementation, and evaluation.part 1 violent crimes remain a substantial problem in the southern district of ohio, especially in urban centers. Part 1 violent crimes increased significantly and persisted, and cities reported substantial increases in weapon law violations, including increases in the number of shots fired into habituations. The district will use evidence-based practices to help prioritize violent crime reduction efforts in coordination with federal, state and local agencies that can help reduce violent crime through use of data and research to enhance violent crime prevention, and targeted and prioritized enforcement efforts based on data collection, analysis, problem identification, evaluation and reporting. The PSN task force will develop a problem-solving approach that is systematic and integrates the steps used in public health and law enforcement. Geographic focus: the three PSN working groups areas will be the geographic focus of this PSN initiative. Further crime analysis conducted by the police departments will target and prioritize the specific locations with significant violent crime problems and against offenders who are driving the violence. Key partners: the southern district is organized and administered by the united states attorney's office for the southern district of ohio (USAO). The PSN task force is made up of representatives of three PSN working groups from the southern district. The violent crime working groups are in three counties franklin, hamilton, and clark. These three counties contain two major cities columbus and cincinnati. Violent crime working groups bring together federal, state, and local resources to discuss violent crime trends, leverage a variety of intelligence sources, and identify offenders.