Under the Public Safety Housing Initiative (PSHI), the U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designated the Kansas City metropolitan area as one of 10 communities nationwide to receive a federal grant to assist in the investigation, prosecution, and prevention of violent crimes and drug offenses in public, federally assisted, and Indian housing areas. As U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, I am honored to lead the coordination of this new local law enforcement and crime prevention initiative. It is important that this program include the same Kansas City organizations and agencies that have sought to improve living conditions in these neighborhoods for years. These organizations are made up of advocates who truly understand the problems that plague some of our area's neighborhoods and who believe that the residents of these communities have a right to a safe and drug-free environment. We will adopt a straightforward approach to implementing PSHI. The grant money will be used to help the community achieve three goals: (1) reduce crime in targeted public housing areas, (2) improve tenant conditions in assisted-living environments, and (3) improve interagency collaboration and communication on quality-of-life issues in public housing areas. Specifically, we will use these funds to train police officers and crime analysts, improve surveillance in public housing areas, increase the number of sweeps conducted in these areas, target criminals residing in public housing, increase open-air drug enforcement, improve investigations, and coordinate and cooperate with probation and parole efforts. Our efforts are designed to improve landlord and tenant responsibilities and, most important, increase tenant safety. The U.S. Attorney's Office may be the leader of this initiative, but we look to the same individuals who have done so much already in reducing crime to help us make this initiative successful. Participants of Kansas City's Project Safe Neighborhoods and Weed and Seed program partners are already on the initiative's steering committee. Additionally, the Kansas City, MO, Police Department; the Independence, MO, Police Department; and Connections to Success, a community faith-based organization that focuses on reentry, will play significant roles. A closer look at the work of all the partners will reveal why each is a critical player in this initiative. Project Safe Neighborhoods has existed in Kansas City for the past 4 years and has been recognized nationally for its success in prosecuting felons who illegally possess firearms. Locally, we refer to the program as Project Ceasefire, which comprises local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and the Kansas City Crime Commission. Since its inception in 1999, more than 700 individuals have been charged with illegally possessing more than 1,300 firearms. The Weed and Seed program, present in Kansas City for nearly 15 years, was selected because its participants are as familiar with these neighborhoods as the residents themselves. In fact, many are resident volunteers. The current Kansas City Weed and Seed site consists of a nearly 1,600-block radius representing more than 20 neighborhoods. The program's understanding of community development will be a great asset to this endeavor. The Kansas City Police Department has dedicated law enforcement officers for years to public and federally assisted housing areas to help ensure these communities are safe and drug free. Currently, the department commits two officers to each of its patrol divisions for the sole purpose of working with landlords and tenants. The police department does this in cooperation with the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program, an international program that teaches prevention, applicant screening, and drug-nuisance abatement and provides resource material to tenants, landlords, and property managers. The Hawthorne Complex in Independence, MO, includes 745 units, 90 percent of which are HUD funded. The assignment of two full-time police officers to this site has helped build positive relationships with tenants and complex staff and has also led to a significant reduction in crime in the area. However, improvement is still needed, and this new PHSI grant money will allow the Independence Police Department to continue their work at this site. Connections to Success has strong working relationships with the Weed and Seed program and the Kansas City Police Department. The organization recognizes that a significant number of Missouri's state probationers and parolees reside in federally assisted housing and will collaborate with other agencies to ensure that probation/parole clients are not a threat to public safety or to these public housing communities. The creation of safe, federally assisted and Indian housing areas is a DOJ priority. I share that sentiment, and I expect that our aggressive collaborative effort will result in a significant difference for residents in these communities. Todd Graves |
