U.S. Attorney’s Office
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded nearly $500,000 in federal grant money for an innovative program to reduce gun violence in Seattle, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. The grant, under the Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN) program supports the Puget Sound Regional Crime Gun Task Force, which is focused on increasing the ability of law enforcement to trace shell casings and firearms used in crimes and thus identify shooters and take them off the streets. The grant will also pay part of the costs for a Special Assistant United States Attorney to prosecute gun crimes, and provides funding to Harborview Medical Center to work with gunshot victims in an innovative hospital-based intervention and structured outreach program to prevent future firearm-related crime.
“Research led by Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center shows that individuals admitted to the hospital for gunshot wounds are at a significantly higher risk of being killed, arrested or reinjured with a gun in the five years following admission,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “This grant not only helps law enforcement identify and prosecute those who are involved in gun crime, it works to help stop the cycle of violence by intervening with high-risk individuals.”
“The Project Safe Neighborhood program has allowed us to create a successful partnership among state and federal prosecutors, and law enforcement agencies, to combat and decrease gun violence in our region by identifying the worst of the worst firearms and violent offenders in our state’s largest county,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg.
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