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PSN Funding
The Administration has devoted more than $1 billion to PSN for
fiscal years (FYs) 2001–2004. Funds are used for various objectives,
including hiring and training new assistant U.S. Attorneys to work
full time on gun crime prosecutions and new state and local prosecutors
to work with federal law enforcement agencies on such cases, updating
and automating state criminal history records, expanding ATF’s
Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative and Integrated Violence
Reduction Strategy, expanding ATF’s computerized ballistics
technology, and creating a nationwide tracing system. In addition,
Project ChildSafe, a separate program under PSN, distributes safety
kits nationwide with cable-style gun locks and educational materials
on safe gun storage.
BJA, a component of DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP),
administers the PSN grant funding. In FY 2001, BJA initiated the
Community Gun Violence Prosecution (GVP) Program to support the
hiring of state and local prosecutors who are dedicated to prosecuting
violent firearm-related crimes. Funding under this program was
available to all state, county, city, and tribal public prosecutor
offices, including state attorney general offices that have responsibility
for prosecuting matters involving firearm-related violent crime.
Under this program, 311 jurisdictions received grant awards to
cover 80 percent of the salary and benefits costs up to $40,000
for each of up to 4 state or local prosecutors for 3 years.
In FY 2002, BJA sponsored four new PSN grant programs. In the
Research Partner/Crime Analyst and Media Outreach and Community
Engagement programs, PSN task forces selected research and media
partners to assist with local efforts. Project Sentry grants provided
funding for juvenile-related programs. A Reducing Community Gun
Violence open solicitation funded innovative ideas in reducing
gun violence.
- Research Partner/Crime Analyst grants support
the strategic planning and accountability components of PSN.
These grants allow local governments to collect and appropriately
analyze accurate data to develop data-driven strategies to reduce
gun crime. A research partner was selected for each of the 94
U.S. Attorney districts that will receive up to $150,000 over
3 years.
- Media Outreach and Community Engagement grants
provide resources to publicize a strict enforcement message,
encourage citizens to work with law enforcement to address firearm-related
crime in their communities, and promote gun safety at the local
level. Similar to the research partner program, a media partner
was selected for each of the U.S. Attorney districts that will
receive up to $170,000 over 2 years.
- Project Sentry grants assist selected communities
in determining the extent and nature of juvenile gun offenses
and gun violence and in finding the best approach to address
the problem. Such approaches may include one or any combination
of the following: identifying and investigating juvenile gun
crimes, prosecuting juveniles who commit offenses using guns,
prosecuting adults who supply illegal firearms to juveniles,
or supervising juvenile gun users once they are adjudicated or
convicted. Thirty-seven awards ranging from $200,000 to $1 million
were stratified among counties that had high local gun-related
and total juvenile violent crime rates at different population
levels.
- The Reducing Community Gun Violence open solicitation
funds innovative ideas to reduce gun violence in three different
areas. Forty of these competitive grants were made with an
average award of $250,000 over 3 years.
In response to feedback from the field, the FY 2003 PSN program’s
funding allocation was changed. Instead of being awarded in separate
grants for each PSN component, the FY 2003 PSN funds were consolidated
and distributed as block grants. That is, each district received
a base allocation, and the remaining funds were distributed based
on population. This new format provided each district’s task
force with more flexibility in determining how the money should
be spent on gun violence reduction efforts at the local level.
Based on the proportion of appropriated Project Sentry funds compared
to all PSN funds, 29 percent of FY 2003 PSN funds were set aside
for juvenile programs. To administer these funds, each district
chose a fiscal agent to enter into subgrants or contracts with
individual projects to carry out the individual components of the
PSN task force strategy.
The FY 2004 PSN grant program will be administered in the same
manner as the FY 2003 program. In addition, through the FY 2004
National PSN Community Engagement and Media Outreach Technical
Assistance Program, BJA will fund specialized support to the 94
PSN task forces. Technical assistance (TA) will be provided by
a national grant recipient through a combination of onsite and
office-based TA and training and through the development and the
dissemination of resource materials.
In 2004, BJA also is working with the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) to supplement the strategies of nine
U.S. Attorneys’ districts focused on the prevention, investigation,
and prosecution of violent crime and drug crime in public and federally
assisted housing, including Native American housing. BJA is coordinating
this project with HUD and OJP’s American Indian and Alaska
Native Affairs Desk in an effort to increase attention on gun violence
reduction in public housing in general and, where appropriate,
in tribal population centers.
BJA and the PSN partners also offer a series of ongoing comprehensive
training and technical assistance (see “Training” under “Five
Core Elements” for course examples). More than 11,000 PSN
task force members have received training.
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