Birmingham deserves a Public Safety Partnership committed to a long-term promise of safe communities

The Northern District of Alabama is part of a nationwide offensive against violence in America’s cities. Last year, in response to President Trump’s directive to reduce crime and improve public safety, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the National Public Safety Partnership, an alliance of local and federal law enforcement agencies coordinating with community organizations to reduce violent crime in areas long plagued by it. The Attorney General selected Birmingham as one of the initial 12 PSP sites.

As the United States Attorney, I have brought together members of law enforcement across the spectrum of agencies, complemented by strategic community service providers, all assembled to address Birmingham’s high level of violent crime.

As we know from our experience in this city, the most serious offenses tend to concentrate in small, combustible areas. The challenges we find in our metro area are unlikely to mirror those in another community. PSP relies on hyper-accurate crime data, while tapping federal and local expertise to design crime-fighting strategies tailored to a specific community’s needs.

Since Birmingham became a PSP community, I have convened two task forces charged with reducing crime, especially violent crime.

The Birmingham Public Safety Task Force works to target the worst offenders in high-crime areas. Through this task force, my office, the Birmingham Police Department, Birmingham Mayor’s Office, Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Birmingham Housing Authority and Alabama Pardons and Parole, are working regularly with ATF, DEA, FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service to improve data and intelligence sharing.

This task force has been instrumental in identifying the worst violent offenders in the area for arrest and prosecution. Members of this task force actively pursue identified alpha criminals engaged in criminal activity and, after capture, seek the legal forum with the greatest available sanction so that those worst offenders are out of our neighborhoods for as long as the law will allow. Those communities may then return to their rightful owners – the law-abiding citizens who, for too long, have lived under the oppressive thumb of violent crime.

My office also established a new process to review and refer gun cases to determine whether state or federal prosecution is most appropriate. Charging offenders at the federal level can mean swifter prosecution and a sentence without the sanctuary of parole. This unprecedented level of coordination between state and federal prosecutors has spurred a rise in prosecutions, with bed space reserved for violent criminals at whichever penitentiary offers the longest stay.

In recognizing that we cannot simply incarcerate our way out of our troubles, I also have convened the Birmingham Safe Neighborhoods Task Force, which is developing robust prevention and outreach programs for our youth and our citizens.

Neither of these task forces would be possible without the partnerships developed with our local and federal agencies. Preventing recidivist behaviors is a great thing, but preventing criminal activity in the first place is a greater virtue. Providing opportunities and positive alternatives to a criminal lifestyle will pay dividends as an investment in our next generations.

PSP is breaking down barriers among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. Task force members, all principals in their agencies, have committed to sharing crime intelligence, collaborating in criminal investigations, and relying upon each other for operational success.

We cannot make crime disappear overnight in the Magic City, but we are establishing processes and methods that will reduce violent crime and ensure that the reduction is not a short-lived success.

Birmingham deserves a Public Safety Partnership committed to a long-term promise of safe communities. Thanks to Attorney General Sessions, we have one.

Jay E. Town is a United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.