‘Community Prosecuting’ Wins Fans, Federal Funds

Nearly everyone has heard of community policing, the notion of putting more cops on neighborhood beats, which has won backing from the Clinton administration. But what about community prosecutors?

In an experiment that Justice Department officials seem excited about, more federal and state prosecutors soon will move out of their downtown offices to work with neighborhood organizations, parent groups and school officials, making sure their prosecution of certain crimes is having a positive effect on communities.

Although the idea is not new--Los Angeles has tried aspects of it for years--the Justice Department is earmarking more than $425,000 for demonstration projects in several communities in hopes of encouraging other cities to experiment. In the next few months, $5 million in grants will be awarded across the nation to communities that submit applications.

Truancy an Issue in Denver Area

In Denver, which Justice officials tout as having a model program, U.S. Atty. Bill Ritter said placing federal prosecutors in specific neighborhoods has resulted in “a spirit of cooperation among police and prosecutors.”

“You get a different sense of what that neighborhood’s issues are than you do by being downtown,” he said.

In one area, police and neighbors have encouraged the prosecutors to crack down on gangs. Residents in another section of Denver have worked with prosecutors to focus on juveniles committing graffiti offenses.

“It really is truancy that you learn is the issue,” Ritter said. “And that may not be on your radar screen if you are just reacting case by case. But by being in the community, you get a sense for the community’s problems.”

Justice Department officials said community prosecutors learn to concentrate on offenses affecting the quality of life of local residents.

Spokane County in Washington state, for example, is receiving a special grant to continue a program under which neighbors have worked closely with police and prosecutors to close down drug houses and to stamp out a rash of burglaries.

Deputy county prosecutor Tim O’Brien said parent organizations, in cooperation with law enforcement, have pressured landlords to evict tenants who use their properties to sell drugs. And when petty thieves and burglars appear in court for sentencing, groups of neighbors draft a “victims’ impact statement” to inform the sentencing judges of the deleterious effect that property crimes have on their community.

“We’re bringing the system of justice to the community level,” O’Brien said.

In New York City, county prosecutors in the Bronx recently received federal funds to work with a local cable channel to explain how their office operates. Steven Reed, a district attorney’s spokesman, said camera crews will film interviews with residents on the street to learn of their concerns, and the county prosecutor will respond in a series of eight half-hour shows.

Los Angeles was among the cities pioneering one aspect of community prosecution when the city attorney’s office obtained a court injunction in 1993 against members of the Blythe Street gang. Since the court order barred them from gathering publicly in that San Fernando Valley neighborhood, more than 40 gang members have moved out under a heightened police presence that has resulted in scores of arrests, officials said.

The number of violent incidents in the Blythe Street neighborhood declined from 155 in the year before the injunction to 125 in 1994 and 117 in 1996, according to the latest figures.

City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas has said the “community prosecution” technique is based on the theory that dealing swiftly with quality-of-life problems helps prevent more serious crimes.

Eric H. Holder Jr., the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, calls community prosecutors “the promising new approach to law enforcement.” It is no surprise, he said, that uniting local and federal crime-fighting efforts and ensuring more community involvement has helped national crime “drop to its lowest level in a quarter of a century.”