LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. — The United States Department of Justice has awarded Lancaster County with just under $300,000 in funding to begin a three-year Crime Reduction Project.
The DOJ awarded this grant funding to only 37 jurisdictions around the country as part of the Rural and Small Department Violent Crime Reduction Program.
The Crime Reduction Project will include three components: Criminal Justice Partner Collaboration, Community Collaboration, and Evidence-Based Strategies.
The Lancaster Sheriff's Office is leading the project and Sheriff Barry Faile said reducing crime is a top priority for his agency.
“We all have a responsibility to make Lancaster a safer place,” Faile said.
The project brings all agencies involved in every part of the criminal system together to tackle crimes in the county.
“From what is the cause of the issues, to the arrest process to are we using the right resources to reduce crime and go through the criminal justice system,” Lancaster Police Chief Don Roper said. “After the person has gone through the system are there resources available to keep them from having to go back into the system.”
The agencies say it is about being problem solvers; calling it community policing in action.
“I just want us to be a county, and agency that sets the tone for the criminal justice system in the state of South Carolina,” Faile said. “I think we all work well together but I think we can do more.”
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Criminal justice partner collaboration
This collaboration includes the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC), a newly formed body that will address issues such as resource needs, jail overcrowding, policies and protocols. The CJCC will address these issues with the cooperation of all of those involved in Lancaster County's criminal justice system.
Community collaboration
Lancaster County will hold six outreach fairs over the three-year project to get community feedback from the public and provide education about community resources in order to help the public connect with the resources they need or get the help they need. There will be public and nonprofit organizations at these community events, including law enforcement.
Part of community collaboration is the addition of four new neighborhood crime watch groups where there are high crime rates and the continuation of the Knock-Knock project.
Evidence-based strategies
The evidence-based strategies component of the project will utilize a software program, risk terrain modeling (RTM), to change the focus from people to places in order to better identify the location where a crime is likely to occur. The model will also be useful for examining environmental factors that may increase the likelihood of crime in those areas.
The goal of these analyses is to ultimately direct resources toward crime prevention in those areas identified by the model.
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“We all have a responsibility to make Lancaster a safer place,” said Faile.