With only three days left prior to his leaving office, Attorney General Bob McDonnell traveled to Petersburg this morning for a meeting with community leaders. The Attorney General was joined by a number of local officials including Petersburg Police Chief John Dixon and Commonwealth’s Attorney Cassandra Burns. Chief Deputy Attorney General Bill Mims also participated in the meeting.
During the meeting a number of past, current and future joint initiatives were discussed, including the opportunity to bring the innovative anti-gang program, GRIP, to the city. Meeting attendees also viewed the Attorney General’s new anti-gang video: “The Wrong Family: Virginia Fights Back Against Gangs”. The Petersburg Bureau of Police played an important role in the production of the video.
Speaking about this morning’s community leaders briefing, Attorney General McDonnell noted, “Over the past three years we have established a strong and permanent partnership between the Office of the Attorney General and the City of Petersburg. Through law enforcement actions, educational efforts and a robust spirit of cooperation we have launched a number of initiatives that are making Petersburg a better place to live and work. I am also pleased to announce that the Petersburg Bureau of Police and others are committed to bringing GRIP to Petersburg. This program has worked in Richmond, and I know it will be successful in Petersburg.”
Since McDonnell took office in 2006 The Office of the Attorney General has worked with the City of Petersburg on a number of initiatives.
“Operation Impact” was a successful joint local, state and federal law enforcement action in 2007/2008 which led to over 64 arrests for drug trafficking, firearms violations, and other violent offenses in the City of Petersburg. The Office of the Attorney General assisted the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in prosecuting 12 cases resulting from the effort. All 12 prosecutions resulted in prison time for the defendants.
A TRIAD program was launched in the city in October 2006. TRIAD is a cooperative arrangement between the Office of Attorney General Bob McDonnell, local law enforcement and seniors groups designed to educate and assist senior citizens on issues of crime and fraud. The TRIAD chapter in Petersburg is now one of the most active units in the Commonwealth, through the leadership of the Office of the Sheriff.
The Office of the Attorney General distributed the internet safety book, “Faux Paw’s: Adventures in the Internet” to elementary schools in the city in order to increase student awareness about online safety.
There has also been a strong focus on anti-gang efforts in the City. The Gang Awareness Coordinator for the Office of the Attorney General gave four gang awareness presentations in the Petersburg area. Further, the Petersburg Bureau of Police played an important role in helping to produce “The Wrong Family: Virginia Fights Back Against Gangs”, the anti-gang video now being shown statewide. This cooperative anti-gang effort will now intensify with today’s announcement of the plan to bring GRIP to the City of Petersburg.
The Gang Reduction and Intervention Program (GRIP) is a comprehensive anti-gang effort focused on bringing together all sectors of a community to combat gang violence and provide opportunities to individuals living in affected areas. The program was launched in Richmond as one of four pilot programs nationwide. It was initially funded through a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the amount of $2.5 million, however after this March it will become self-sustaining.
In Richmond the program is administered through the Office of the Attorney General and is a collaborative effort between federal, state and local partners focusing on targeted communities. It has proven extremely successful with a 16% reduction in violent crimes in the GRIP area in FY 2007. The Department of Justice has now recognized GRIP as a “Best Practices” gang reduction program model. The GRIP program includes over forty programs focusing on the strategic areas of primary and secondary prevention, intervention, suppression and reentry. A future Petersburg GRIP initiative could be modeled after the successful Richmond program.
To learn more about GRIP please visit: http://www.oag.state.va.us/KEY_ISSUES/GANGS/Gangs_GRIP_Program.html
