As part of this effort, defendants charged with either illegal sale or possession of guns are interviewed. A detective investigator and an assistant district attorney debrief such defendants in an effort to obtain information that will form the basis for long-term investigations of weapons trafficking and the issuance of search warrants for the seizure of weapons. This effort is further enhanced with state funding, which provides resources to conduct complex sting operations and purchase illegal guns. Click here.

     As a multi-pronged effort, PSN also includes a media campaign. In the Southern District of New York, which includes the Bronx, this campaign is known as "Project Fed Up." As an adjunct to enforcement, Project Fed Up has designed a series of ads that have been displayed on billboards, movie theater screens, and bus shelters around the Bronx, and on flyers and palm cards. The media campaign is designed to inform the public that the NYPD and the Bronx District Attorney have joined with federal agencies in an offensive against gun violence and that, “if you do gun crime, you do hard time.”

     Operation Spotlight is a multi-agency Citywide initiative that targets misdemeanor recidivists who commit crimes that affect quality of life. Defendants targeted by this initiative must be arrested for a misdemeanor and have at least two additional arrests within the preceding 12 months (one of which must be a non-felony). Such offenders commit a disproportionate amount of crime.Defendants meeting Operation Spotlight criteria are automatically identified on rap sheets produced by New York State’s Division of Criminal Justice Services. All such flagged cases receive enhanced prosecutorial attention. A specialized court hears Operation Spotlight cases. As a result of the initiative, the processing of narcotics laboratory reports is expedited, probation and parole revocations are fast-tracked, trial capacity is increased, and direct links are established to services for drug-addicted and mentally ill defendants. Operation Spotlight has led to an increase in the percentage of eligible defendants detained on bail and an increase in the percentage receiving jail sentences.

     The Bronx has the highest rate in the City of domestic violence reports per hundred thousand population. On October 22, 2001, a new integrated domestic violence (IDV) court part opened in Bronx Criminal Court, the first in the state. This part is a combined Criminal Court, Supreme Court and Family Court Part and was implemented in recognition that domestic violence often involves not only criminal matters but other family matters. For example, a woman who has been assaulted by her husband may obtain a “full stay away” order of protection. If the couple has children together and the father wants to see the children, he must go to Family Court to obtain visitation rights. In the past these two cases would have proceeded completely independently in different courts. Now they are sent to the IDV Part for adjudication and heard by one judge, who is aware of the circumstances surrounding all cases. Click here.