Erie DA awarded $1.6 million to address gun violence, other Unified Erie crime initiatives

Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency awarded $1.64 million to the Erie County District Attorney's Office this week to reduce gun violence and give ex-offenders the support they need to lead productive lives.

State Reps. Pat Harkins, D-1st Dist., and Bob Merski, D-2nd Dist., said in a news release that the grant will fund the implementation of Unified Erie's Group/Gun Violence Reduction Strategy over a two-year period. It's among $15.7 million awarded by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to reduce violence in communities across the state. Forty projects received funding from the PCCD's Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) grant program.

Unified Erie is a data-driven anti-crime initiative launched 11 years ago to battle gun violence and to prevent people from engaging in criminal behavior. It has a three-prong approach: prevention, enforcement and reentry.

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“This grant is going to fund targeted intervention strategies, street outreach, and other programs that have proven to reduce violence and help former offenders transition back to productive lives,” Merski said. “All are investments in a safer, stronger community.”

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Good timing for the funding

The funding comes at a critical time.

By the end of September, the city of Erie was close to surpassing 2020 numbers for shots-fired calls, people wounded by gunfire and guns recovered by law enforcement.

The Erie Bureau of Police is seeking a $14.5 million share of the city's American Rescue Plan funding to address

District Attorney Jack Daneri's office has used the Unified Erie initiative for years to address gun violence. Earlier this year, Daneri announced a plan to create a domestic violence unit that relies on the same data-rich approach.

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The $1.6 million comes just days after Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper announced plans for how the county would spend more than $9.4 million of its $52.3 million American Rescue Plan funding.

The county plans to invest $125,000 into the District Attorney's Office for its gun-violence reduction initiative, which has removed 400 guns from the streets in recent years.

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Harkins said the state funding will "give residents a greater voice in fighting crime, expand outreach to at-risk youth beyond the schools and into the neighborhoods, boost law enforcement’s ability to track and prosecute offenders, and connect former offenders with job resources and other supports to help them turn their lives around."

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County crime: State awards DA grant to address gun violence, other initiatives