Title
Violent Gang and Gun Crime Reduction Program (Project Safe Neighborhoods) (NB)
This is a request for City Commission approval for the Gainesville Police Department to accept a grant award from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, and Bureau of Justice Assistance in implementing gang and gun crime enforcement, intervention, and prevention initiatives within the community.
Explanation
The Gainesville Police Department has applied for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Violent Gang and Gun Crime Reduction Program, also known as Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN), in support of its efforts to reduce gun and gang-related violent crime. The grant deadline was May 12, 2014. The recipient of this grant with a population size of Gainesville could be awarded up to $150,000 total for 2 years. This grant will enable the City of Gainesville to more effectively counter the increasing gang and gang associated activities occurring locally, particularly in the Pine Ridge community. Gang related disturbances have accelerated in this neighborhood to include gang members resorting to assembling and detonating explosives. One of these explosives was purposely detonated near a group of responding Police Officers. Research conducted by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention finds that gang violence is a product of social disorganization and presumes gangs become chronic and serious problems in communities where key organizations are inadequately integrated and where there are insufficient resources to target gang-involved youth.
Funding from this grant will also be used for operational expenses, employment assistance, and supplies in order to address this issue via prevention, suppression, and intervention.
This grant strongly encourages the incorporation of a research partner which can be an independent contractor, academic institution, a state Statistical Analysis Center or a research organization. The research partner will assis...
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