Oakland and Richmond chosen for federal crime-reduction initiative
By Malaika Fraley Oakland Tribune
Posted:   09/30/2014 06:42:53 AM PDT1 Comment | Updated:   106 min. ago
Click photo to enlarge

Rep. Barbara Lee, second from right, with Alameda County Supervisor Keith... ( Laura A. Oda )
OAKLAND -- Oakland and Richmond have been chosen to take part in a two-year U.S. Department of Justice program that will give local law enforcement greater access to federal resources to combat and prevent crime.
The DOJ's newly announced Violence Reduction Network aims to enhance working partnerships between local and federal law enforcement, with the goal of developing and implementing successful crime-prevention strategies.
Oakland and Richmond jointly are one of five places in the U.S. chosen for the pilot program. The others are Chicago; Detroit; Wilmington, Delaware; and Camden, New Jersey.
"In the age of shrinking federal dollars, state and local budgets, we have to leverage every dollar we can to develop, innovate and implement the most effective strategies to reduce violence," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, said Monday at a news conference in Oakland attended by local elected officials.
The announcement comes on the heels of last week's news that Oakland, San Leandro and Alameda County are receiving $3.375 million in DOJ Community Orientated Policing Services (COPS) grants to create and preserve law enforcement jobs.
The funding will pay for 15 officers in Oakland, eight deputies for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and four officers in San Leandro.
Advertisement
Under the Violence Reduction Network program, Oakland and Richmond will be assigned a senior DOJ representative to act as a liaison between local and federal law enforcement. Site visits, training, technical assistance and other resources will be provided.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said the two cities were chosen for the program because they are both high-crime areas whose police departments have shown innovation in using a variety of measures to reduce violence. Homicide rates in Oakland and Richmond each dropped about 30 percent last year.
Contact Malaika Fraley at 925-234-1684. Follow her at Twitter.com/malaikafraley.