Remember when Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall announced Project Safe Neighborhoods during a Lake Highlands Exchange Club meeting?
The federal partnership among the U.S. Attorney, FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Agency, and state and local police recently launched in our area.
If you’re unfamiliar with the program and didn’t happen to read Sharon Grigsby’s Morning News column, here’s what you need to know.
What is Project Safe Neighborhoods?
Project Safe Neighborhoods is a Bureau of Justice Assistance program that partners with local law enforcement to reduce gun violence and provide resources to sustain lower crime rates. It was established during George W. Bush’s presidency.
What neighborhoods is the program targeting?
The program is concentrating on Vickery Meadow and Forest-Audelia, where the City of Dallas already has implemented several crime-reduction measures, from establishing the North Lake Highlands Public Improvement District to suing the owner of the Bent Creek Shopping Center to opening a boxing gym for area youth.
Their first target is shuttering J’s Food Mart, 10041 Whitehurst Drive, where drug deals, prostitution and armed robberies are all too common.
What’s the goal of Project Safe Neighborhoods in northeast Dallas?
Named in honor of slain officer Rogelio Santander, Operation Badge #10934 is a two-year endeavor to eliminate crime hotspots. Federal involvement allows for mandatory minimum sentences, so perpetrators considered repeat offenders will be gone from the area for at least three years, Carol Toler reported in June.
“Our goal is not to lock up the entire community, but the entire community is not committing these crimes,” Hall explained. “These individuals who are plaguing our system, who are keeping it an unsafe place for our children to play, for us to work and live, we need to make sure those individuals are away from our neighborhood.”
