DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF) – A Federal grant announced Wednesday by U.S Attorney General William Barr is aimed at reducing crime in neighborhoods across the country, including Dallas.
The announcement came while the city is experiencing an increase in crime.
Project Safe Neighborhoods is an initiative that allows federal, state, and local law enforcement to work together to reduce crime in high crime neighborhoods. Attorney General William Barr said the concept is two-fold.
“We were debating whether the way to address this was by attacking root causes or getting violent criminals off the street,” said Barr. “The answer was, we’ve got to do both.
The $700,000 grant announced Wednesday will provide resources to Police Departments to help fight crime. It will also allow non-profit groups to keep young kids and teenagers off the streets with various programs.
Dallas Assistant Police Chief David Pughes thanked Barr for the grant and said that the Department can’t arrest its way out of high crime rates.
“If we don’t change it from the inside out, it will go back to the way it was,” Pughes said.
The Lake Highlands neighborhood the Attorney General visited Wednesday experienced a 20% drop in crime in the first 8 months of the program. Barr was joined by U.S. Senator John Cornyn, U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox, and law enforcement partners at a boxing gym used by the Dallas Police Athletic Training Team.
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