April 22, 2003 – No matter what components are included, Project Safe Neighborhoods is all about getting illegal guns and those who use them in crimes off the streets, employing whatever means are available to achieve that end.
From stiff and swift penalties for gun crimes to renewed training efforts for criminal-justice personnel, from the use of new technology to community outreach, the nationwide program that has reached the Virgin Islands has only one goal, according to community justice and law-enforcement officials: to take a big, heavy and accurate swing at gun crime.
The first and swiftest way is with successful prosecution and mandatory sentencing for crimes committed with guns — especially for repeat offenders.
At Tuesday's kickoff session of a two and a half days of training for criminal-justice personnel on St. Thomas, Reagan Dunn, federal PSN program coordinator, said that two-thirds of gun crimes are committed by previously convicted criminals. The thinking is, he said, if you get those particular criminals off the streets, you will make a significant dent in crime.
The training is taking place at Marriott Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort. It covers such topics as firearm detection, recovery and enforcement techniques, case preparation for successful prosecutions, preparation of gun-related search warrants, and use of specialized crime scene and investigative equipment.
Dunn, whose office is in Washington, D.C., said the effort to get gun-wielding criminals off the street requires strong cooperation between federal and local agencies, which is the basic premise of Project Safe Neighborhoods. The coordinated effort provides tools to existing local programs to help them succeed, he said, and "the rivalries, the competition have to give way to safety concerns."
But V.I. Attorney General Iver Stridiron questioned the potential efficacy of the project, saying he hopes that "no one views Project Safe Neighborhoods as the panacea for all our ills."
Addressing the group of about a hundred criminal-justice professionals, Stridiron said that many of the programs suggested by PSN already are being implemented "in my own department."
He said the V.I. Justice Department "has already embarked on our own" program, which he said has included hiring special prosecutors to handle gun crimes and a training expert. "We will be creating our own Virgin Islands Department of Justice training program," he said.
Stridiron also was critical on Tuesday of another federal-local collaborative program, Project Exile — a kind of first cousin to PSN — saying he was "woefully disappointed" with it. "Not one person has been convicted under the program," which was launched in June 2001, he said.
Stridiron, who was the point person locally for the project's introduction nearly two years ago, dismissed it on Tuesday as nothing more than slogans and "pretty signs in Mandela Circle." On its own, he said, his department has secured the conviction of 20 gun-crime offenders and sent them to high-security, off-island prisons including the controversial Wallens Ridge State Prison outside of Richmond, Virginia.
Jurisdiction not an issue
David Nissman, U.S. Attorney for the Virgin Islands, said it is crucial that gun crimes be prosecuted in whichever court — territorial or district — offers the stiffer penalties and the greater ability to handle the cases.
That would be the Territorial Court in the Virgin Islands. Recent legislation passed provides for a mandatory 15-year sentence if a prior offender is convicted in a gun crime.
Nissman said he doesn't care where the prosecution takes place "as long as we get the bad guys. " He added: "We have really great territorial courts."
Not only are the sentencing guidelines stiffer, but there are nine judges in the Territorial Court compared with two for the District Court, offering an opportunity for justice to move more quickly, he said.
"We happen to have a partnership with the AG's office" to share prosecuting attorneys, Nissman said.
A new kind of witness
When it comes to prosecution, the reluctance of witnesses to come foreward is still a problem. Nissman attributed the situation to fear, and Stridiron attributed it to people in the community who "simply don't care."
Either way Project Safe Neighborhoods can help with more and better use of technology.
"I am not proud of the fact that we had such a high homicide rate last year," Nissman said, adding that "people are afraid to come forward." But with new forensic techniques, he said, "We don't have to rely on witness testimony. There's a lot we can do with technology."
One way will be through involvement with and equipment from the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), which is a division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
According to its Web site, it is NIBIN"s mission to "deploy Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS) equipment into state and local law-enforcement agencies for their use in imaging and comparing gun crime evidence."
The equipment allows technicians to make digital images of the markings made by firearms on bullet casings, even on fragments, which are unique, the same as fingerprints. Use of the unique images will allow authorities to trace the movement of any given firearm from state to state or crime to crime.
"We're going to have clues we never had before," Nissman said. Using the technology to show a gun has been used in a variety of crimes and tracing it, he said, can lead to convictions, which is the objective of PSN.
The Virgin Islands will be getting one of the ballistics imaging machines as soon as housing for it is provided, likely by August, according to Azekah Jennings, executive assistant U.S. Attorney.
The housing will be on St. Croix. At least two individuals will be trained in the use of the equipment. The program includes making police officers aware of the importance of ballistics evidence at crime scenes.
"The No. 1 priority is evidence," Hamilton E. Bobb, federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms regional coordinator, said.
Training to be conducted from the "chief down," Bobb said, will impress upon police that the "shots fired" must be collected. Those shell casings will provide the beginning and ongoing data for community information.
Marketing the program
A third component of PSN is getting the message out to the community — and also to the criminals — that harsh punishment is on the agenda for gun offenders.
To this end nationally, PSN has enlisted the help of well-known defense attorney Johnnie Cochran. In one 60-second commercial referring to mandatory sentencing guidelines, Cochran says that if you are convicted of a gun crime, "it doesn't matter who your attorney is."
Other ads which could have an impact here focus on the harm to mothers from crimes committed with guns.
Barry Broome of ADT Security Systems, a member of the citizens advisory component of the project, has been working with other members of the PSN task force to develop a media campaign which will include radio, television and billboards.
When asked if marketing worked on criminals, Dunn said the evidence at this point is "anecdotal." As an example, he then told the story of a criminal being chased by police who tried to get rid of his gun, rather than the drugs he was holding. This, he said, showed that the word was on the street about no-nonsense prosecution and sentencing of gun crimes.
Does Nissman think the program will be successful in the Virgin Islands?
"When we are able to reduce the homicide rate, then we will be able to pat ourselves on the back," he said.
Recent statistics have put the territory's per capita homicide rate five times higher than that of
the U.S. mainland.
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