Salutation—PHSI Participants

Introduction of the Honorable Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Jim Letten, who has served as the United States Attorney for the last five years, is a native of New Orleans, having graduated from the Tulane Law School in 1979. He spent a total of four years in the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office, under then-District Attorney Harry Connick.

He has served over twenty years as a federal prosecutor beginning with the U. S. Department of Justice Organized Crime and Racketeering Strike Force, and became Chief of the Strike Force in March of 1988 and remained Chief of the unit through that office's merger into the United States Attorney's Office in 1990, until being named First Assistant under former U. S. Attorney Eddie Jordan in August of 1994.

While First Assistant, Jim served as a lead prosecutor in the investigation, prosecution, and successful conviction of former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards following a four-month jury trial in early 2000. Jim was initially appointed by U. S. Attorney General John Ashcroft as the U. S. Attorney in April of 2001, until his appointment by President George W. Bush and subsequent Senate confirmation in July, 2005.

As the United States Attorney, Jim serves on the Attorney General's Advisory Subcommittees on National Security/Counter Terrorism, Environment Crimes and Violent Crimes. Jim is also a retired Naval Reserve Intelligence Officer, having achieved the rank of Commander, and served as Squadron Intelligence Officer, NCIS Special Agent, and Foreign Counter-Intelligence Officer. Jim has been active in the U. S. Department of Justice's role in the post-Katrina efforts to rebuild the New Orleans Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies, as well as the state and local criminal justice and judicial systems.

Opening Remarks & Background
(after Jim Letten completes his speech)

Personal Background

Background of CCDO

CCDO brings into focus one of OJP's core missions: to work with local communities to analyze public safety and criminal justice problems, develop solutions, and foster local level leadership to implement and sustain these solutions. CCDO works closely with other OJP offices and bureaus to help communities help themselves, enabling them to design strategies for deterring crime, promoting economic growth, and enhancing quality of life.

CCDO's flagship program is the Weed and Seed Strategy. This highly successful initiative is an innovative and comprehensive multi-agency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and community revitalization. CCDO oversees the network of more than 250 Weed and Seed communities.

The Weed and Seed strategy involves a two-pronged approach: law enforcement agencies and prosecutors cooperate in “weeding out” violent criminals and drug abusers, and public agencies and community-based private organizations collaborate to “seed” much-needed human services. A community-oriented policing component bridges the weeding and seeding elements. Four fundamental principles underlie this strategy: collaboration, coordination, community participation, and leveraging resources.

CCDO is working to expand public and private partnerships that build and sustain local capacity for creating safe, thriving communities. Two especially prominent programs are the Public Housing Safety Initiative and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Centers.

VITA centers, on the other hand, represent a partnership between CCDO and the Internal Revenue Service. VITA centers provide free income tax assistance to low-income families, encourage use of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credits, and promote asset-building efforts that enable low-income families to buy a home, start a business, or seek higher education. As of April 2006, almost 100 VITA centers processed over 11,000 returns with a value of more than $15 million in tax refunds to Weed and Seed residents.

In addition to these partnerships, I serve on the Assistant Attorney General's Justice Programs Council on Native American Affairs (JPCNAA). Two staff members from CCDO chair the JPCNAA Tribal Codes Development and Infrastructure Workgroup. CCDO is meeting with Tribal Leaders and law enforcement officials to enhance CCDO's role in American Indian and Alaskan Native communities. My office is also working on reentry issues, helping state and local agencies access and leverage resources from existing state formula and block grants to support their efforts to integrate returning offenders.

Last but not least, the Public Housing Safety Initiative or PHSI is a partnership between CCDO and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to assist in the investigation, prosecution, and prevention of violent crimes and drug offenses in public and federally assisted housing, including American Indian housing. This crime-prevention effort is executed directly through U.S. Attorneys Offices in cities around the country, Weed and Seed sites, and local public housing authorities.

The Public Housing Safety Initiative

Modeled after successful Weed and Seed efforts and Project Safe Neighborhoods, the U.S. Attorney-directed Public Housing Safety Initiative (PHSI) seeks to improve conditions for low-income housing tenants suffering high rates of violent crime and illicit drug and firearm distribution.

In 2004 and 2005, CCDO selected 19 sites throughout the country to participate in PHSI and offered each site $400,000 for law enforcement assistance and $200,000 for community intervention efforts. Cooperation among all levels of law enforcement, community leaders, and nonprofit organizations made this major federal initiative possible. An agreement between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Public and Indian Housing, and the Office of Justice Programs made nearly $18 million available for PHSI.

PHSI believes in the premise that strong communities are built on strong interactions between law enforcement and community leaders, and there should be no exception to this in public housing communities. The PHSI effort is changing these communities for the better.

The initiative has generated hundreds of federal indictments, disrupted gang networks, and taken vast quantities of narcotics and guns off the streets in and around public housing with the help of U.S. Attorneys, local police departments, and federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and U.S. Marshals Service. Local and federal authorities have divided responsibilities according to expertise and capacity to maximize program results. Most recently, we had the pleasure and opportunity to have the Inspector General from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD), join our efforts as a partner with the U.S. Attorneys Offices.

For example, in Chicago, federal agencies coordinated counter-gang operations while the Chicago Police Department (CPD) contributed local informants, onsite intelligence, and the manpower to execute PHSI operations. In Philadelphia, stakeholders leveraged a $2 million contribution from ATF. Such a large contribution on top of $600,000 in PHSI funds made possible through the strong cooperation that had already existed among federal partners in the city. In addition to helping to apprehend criminals, the Housing Authority dedicated $750,000 to Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, a proven approach based on the belief that effectively designed communities will experience fewer criminal incidents and less fear of crime.

Some PHSI sites turned to technology to gain the edge on criminals. In Jordan Downs, a public housing apartment complex in the Watts section of Los Angeles, PHSI organizers turned an ambitious idea into a million-dollar collaboration. The electronics company Motorola donated fixed cameras, DVD camcorders, and night vision goggles to the department. Los Angeles installed cameras in the neighborhood to create "safe corridors" for children going to and from school, and initial surveys indicate overwhelming community support for their installation. Patrol cars receive transmissions from these cameras so police can assess the incident scene before they approach. The LAPD is utilizing face and license plate recognition devices to enforce a city injunction against the Grape Street Crips, a criminal street gang with a history of intimidating and terrorizing residents.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Western Missouri also put technology to use with the i2 Investigative Analysis Software, which allowed investigators to construct "criminal family trees" to help judges, juries, and prosecutors visualize the complex criminal organization of street gangs. These technologies have improved law enforcement's ability to investigate, apprehend, and prosecute offenders.

PHSI has gone beyond the paradigm of arrest and prosecution by mobilizing law enforcement to improve overall quality of life for tenants. A top priority for local officers in Kansas City was evicting repeat criminal offenders and squatters from housing. They trained property managers to proactively address physical dilapidation, unruly or criminal tenants, and public nuisances in housing projects. In places where trainings took place, calls for police service declined 10 percent, and burglaries and reports of suspicious activity declined 12 percent. Police pressured property managers to enforce rental contracts and to bring the housing into code compliance by installing new screens, deadbolts, and extra security lighting. HUD's IG was also very instrumental assisting with these efforts.

In cities such as Chicago, PHSI helped local police and federal agents stage large-scale drug "take-down" operations that disrupt the gangs' drug enterprises and allow communities to reclaim their streets and public spaces. On the grounds of a public housing complex known as The Square, dealers ran a round-the-clock open-air drug market that earned $5 million each year. In May of 2005, 58 individuals were arrested for their involvement in the drug trade through a joint CPD-FBI operation. A similar operation in June of that same year, netted another 40 arrests. As a result, families are out in their neighborhoods and kids are playing in the playgrounds.

Relationships with the community play an ever-increasing role in fighting crime. A daily police presence reduces residents' fears about reporting crimes and assisting police. PHSI strongly reinforces the need for cooperation among law enforcement, community members, and local organizations.

To help build and maintain ties with public housing residents, the Santa Clara Police in New Mexico initiated knock-and-talk operations and distributed pamphlets and refrigerator magnets with an antidrug message and the police telephone number. A venture that was well received and appreciated by community residents.

Strengthening community programming continues to be a major goal under PHSI. In New Mexico, the local Boys & Girls Club, social service providers, law enforcement, and cultural representatives from the Pueblo Tribe joined forces to provide gang, violence, and substance abuse prevention education to a vast tribal audience.

Throughout the 19 cities spanning from Miami to Seattle, PHSI has given communities a chance to take back their public spaces, reduce violent crime, and improve daily living conditions for public housing tenants. U.S. Attorney leadership allows PHSI to continue to achieve its goals. U.S. Attorneys lead by inclusion and bring an array of federal, local, and community decision-makers to the table. The collaborative aspect of PHSI allows programs to endure long after the last PHSI grant dollar has been spent.

End