Federal Program Aimed at 'Most Violent' Making Shreveport Safer

David Joseph, United States Attorney, Western District of Louisiana, talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about the local implementation of the Project Safe Neighborhoods, a plan that targets the most violent offenders with federal crimes, for which punishment is more severe.

Joseph, citing recent comments by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, tells KEEL listeners that the program has reduced crime in the Shreveport area by taking the worst offenders off the street and incarcerating them for longer periods of time.

The original Project Safe Neighborhoods was established in 2001 by President George W. Bush to develop new strategies in local communities to prevent and reduce gun violence.

To combat violent crime across the state, area FBI offices have also formed several gang task forces designed to identify the most violent offenders from cities across the state.

At the vanguard of these efforts, says Joseph, is Shreveport's Northwest Louisiana Violent Crime Task Force.