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Press Release

Justice Department Launches National Public Safety Partnership with Wichita Police Department

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Kansas

WICHITA, KS - Today, officials from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance, the United States Attorney's Office's, District of Kansas, the Wichita Police Department and other city, state and federal law enforcement agencies convened in Wichita to initiate the National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) program with the Wichita Police Department. This Justice Department program is a three-year engagement that seeks to leverage department assets in support of a local jurisdictions' commitment to drive down violent crime.  

On June 3, 2019, Attorney General William Barr announced the selection of the Wichita Police Department as one of ten FY 2019 PSP sites where the Justice Department will work collaboratively to provide training and technical assistance in areas such as crime analytics, emerging technology and community engagement.   

Since 2017, the Justice Department has directed nearly $14.9 million in customized training and technical assistance to help build crime fighting capacity in PSP sites, including $6.6 million to support the FY 2019 sites through FY 2022. PSP seeks to bring law enforcement stakeholders together to work collaboratively in reducing violent crime attributed to felonious firearm use, drug trafficking and human trafficking.  

 

“Today our team is on-site in Wichita to collaborate with local law enforcement officials in their mission to improve public safety and drive down violent crime,” said Jon Adler, Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance.  "Through the Public Safety Partnership, we are committed to fulfilling the Attorney General's priority of supporting local law enforcement combat violent gangs, felonious firearms use and drug trafficking," added Adler.

“This program will be emphasizing new technology that will help analyze local crime trends, identify hotspots and rapidly process crime scene data,” U.S. Attorney McAllister said. “Just as important, we’re going to draw on new ideas and best practices from a national network of major cities that are members of the Public Safety Partnership.”

“The WPD is excited to embrace this opportunity to more effectively address violent crime,” WPD Chief Gordon Ramsay said. “This opportunity allows us to further partner with our federal law partners and improve our community.”

 

Since 2017, the Justice Department has worked with more than 30 local jurisdictions under the nationwide PSP program. Many participating cities have already seen dramatic reductions in violent crime. New Orleans ended 2018 with 146 murders, the lowest number of murders since the early 1970s. In Milwaukee, homicides declined in 2018 for a third straight year after hitting a deadly peak in 2015.   

 

Agencies in attendance at this meeting will include the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Kansas; the Office of Justice Programs; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshals Service; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the Wichita Police Department; the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office; Mayor Jeff Longwell’s Office; the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, Wichita Municipal Court and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation,

 

For more information about PSP, visit https://www.nationalpublicsafetypartnership.org.

Updated July 23, 2019

Topic
Violent Crime
Component