Texas LE officials see dip in violent crimes after project launch
By: Gabriel Monte, Amarillo Globe-News
AMARILLO, Texas — Local, state and federal law enforcement officials launched Friday a Department of Justice initiative aimed at dissipating a violent crime hot spot in Lubbock after seeing encouraging results from the same program in Amarillo.
About an 8.66-square-mile strip in the center of Lubbock was designated a Project Safe Neighborhoods area. Similar to other cities, the project focuses police and legal resources to curb violent crime and improve the relationship between law enforcement and the community.
“What we have found with this program is that when crime lacks a geographic locus, it dissipates,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox, the chief federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Texas, during a news conference at the Lubbock police headquarters. “And when a community trusts law enforcement, it thrives.
