U.S. Department Of Justice Awards City Of Stockton A $414,923 Grant To Continue Funding A County-Wide Firearms Reduction Consortium

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Bureau of Justice Assistance, an agency of the United States Department of Justice, awarded an Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) to the City of Stockton to prevent and control crime, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today.

The 2014 JAG grant award of $414,923 will fund the fourth year of the Firearms Reduction Consortium. The Consortium is a collaborative effort between San Joaquin County and the City of Stockton to reduce firearm violence.

The prevalence of illegal firearms within the City of Stockton, as well as throughout San Joaquin County, is a significant contributor to the increase in violent crime in the region. Efforts to combat violent crime will be coordinated between the Stockton Police Department, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office and the San Joaquin County Probation Department, and will include:

• Special enforcement missions to be conducted four times each year;
• Retention of an expert in firearms to provide ballistics identification services for guns and bullet casings recovered from crime scenes and during the enforcement missions;
• The assignment by the District Attorney's Office of a prosecutor knowledgeable of the laws related to gun crimes; and
• Funding of additional computer software enhancements and staff training.

For more information about this grant, contact the Office of Justice Program's Office of Communications at (202) 307-0703.

The assistance provided by this grant complements an ongoing effort by the U.S. Department of Justice, including the U.S. Attorney's Office, FBI, ATF, DEA, and the U.S. Marshals Service, to work closely with the Stockton Police Department, San Joaquin County Sheriff, the District Attorney, and other agencies to reduce violent crime in the Stockton area.