Community
Indian Country & Public Lands
Approximately 87 percent of Nevada’s lands are owned and managed by the federal government and its agencies, including the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Department of Energy, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Nevada’s wide ranging public lands give rise to many land management issues, such as grazing and water rights; Native American Claims; resource protection; claims in defense of the environment; wild horses; safety of federal officers, and state’s rights. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada has jurisdiction to prosecute individuals who commit offenses on these public lands, and also represents the United States in civil actions filed on behalf of or against the land management agencies.
Nevada is home to 31 Indian Tribes & Reservations. The United States Attorney’s Office has jurisdiction to prosecute felonies occurring on these reservations. The staffed branch office in Reno, Nevada, handles the majority of the cases that originate on Nevada Indian lands.
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in America by networking existing local programs that target gun crime and providing these programs with additional tools necessary to be successful. The Bush Administration committed over $1.5 billion to this effort since PSN's inception in 2001. This funding is being used to hire new federal and state prosecutors, support investigators, provide training, distribute gun lock safety kits, deter juvenile gun crime, and develop and promote community outreach efforts as well as to support other gun violence reduction strategies.
Part of this effort includes the Southern Nevada PSN Task Force, a team of law enforcement officers and prosecutors who meet on a weekly basis to discuss arrests involving guns and explosives. From 2002 to 2006, Las Vegas PSN Task Force members screened over 2,500 cases for prosecution, and 777 individuals were charged with federal firearms offenses. This average of over 155 indictments per year in Las Vegas is the highest number ever recorded by the District of Nevada, and is approximately two to three times the number of indictments returned in the years prior to the inception of the PSN Task Force in southern Nevada. A like number were prosecuted by the Clark County District Attorney’s Office and sentenced in the state court system. During the same period, federal prosecutors in Reno charged 234 persons with federal firearm offenses.
On February 15, 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales unveiled his plan to combat gang violence across America. The Attorney General's strategy is twofold: First, prioritize prevention programs to provide America's youth, as well as offenders reentering the community, with opportunities that help them resist gang involvement. Second, ensure robust enforcement policies when gang-related violence does occur. The Attorney General's Anti-Gang initiative will build on the effective partnerships and strategies developed through PSN to support anti-gang enforcement and prevention efforts and to provide training and technical assistance.
For Fiscal Year 2006, DOJ dedicated $10 million to fund current and expanded comprehensive gun crime reduction strategies. DOJ also dedicated additional funding of $30 million under the new Anti-Gang Initiative to fund new and expanded anti-gang prevention and enforcement efforts under the PSN Initiative.
The following PSN/Anti-Gang grants and awards have been made to Nevada partners in order to support the elements of PSN:
FISCAL YEAR 2006:
Clark County District Attorney’s Office - $145,523
Washoe County Sheriff’s Office $32,971
Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice: $76,015
FISCAL YEAR 2005:
Clark County District Attorney’s Office - $37,404
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - $37,404
FISCAL YEAR 2004:
Washoe County Sheriff's Office - $191,689
Join Together Northern Nevada - $104,673
FISCAL YEAR 2003:
Washoe County Sheriff's Office - $187,978
Join Together Northern Nevada - $102,025
Advisory Council for Prosecuting Attorneys - $10,000
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - $40,080
FISCAL YEARS 2001 & 2002:
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - Media Outreach and Community Engagement Award ($170,000)
21st Century Solutions, Inc. - Research Partner/Crime Analyst Award ($150,000)
Clark County District Attorney's Office - Project Safe Neighborhoods Community Gun Violence Prosecution Program ($480,000)
Further information about PSN can be obtained at www.projectsafeneighborhoods.gov
Questions about the District of Nevada's PSN or Anti-Gang initiatives should be directed to the District’s Public Affairs Specialist/LECC, Natalie Collins, at (702) 388-6336.
OPERATION WEED AND SEED
A strategy within the U.S. Department of Justice Community Capacity Development Office (insert link: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ccdo/ that incorporates community-based initiatives. It is an innovative and comprehensive multi-agency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and community revitalization. Operation Weed and Seed aims to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in targeted high-crime neighborhoods across the country. The strategy involves a two-pronged approach: law enforcement agencies and prosecutors cooperate in "weeding out" criminals who participate in violent crime and drug abuse, attempting to prevent their return to the targeted area; and "seeding" brings human services to the area, encompassing prevention, intervention, treatment, and neighborhood revitalization. A community-orientated policing component bridges weeding and seeding strategies. Officers obtain helpful information from area residents for weeding efforts, while they aid residents in obtaining information about community revitalization and seeding resources.
The District of Nevada has two officially-recognized Weed and Seed sites: one in Northeast Reno, and another in Southeast Reno. The Reno strategy includes identifying, arresting and prosecuting gang members and drug dealers in the targeted areas, community policing, such as the Adopt-A-School Program which connects local law enforcement officers to schools, students and parents, a Student Technology and Education Program (STEP); a Training, Employment, and Computer Lab (TEC); Strictly Business, which teaches youth about investment and small business principles; and Beauty & Beyond, a self-esteem building program for teenage girls.