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In service to the state of Wyoming, communities and people of Wyoming, and the University of Wyoming. 
 
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Project Safe Neighborhoods

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a comprehensive and strategic gun law enforcement strategy that targets gun crime and violent offenders in an effort to make our communities safer. The effectiveness of PSN is based on partnerships among federal, state, and local law enforcement and their ability to implement elements of PSN in a manner that responds to the specific gun crime problems in their district. The PSN strategic plan that has been developed and implemented in Wyoming has been named Project Guardian.

The U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Wyoming selected the Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center (WYSAC) at the University of Wyoming as their research partner for Project Guardian. Project Guardian has been split into three phases.

During Phase I WYSAC conducted onsite data collection concerning the illegal use of firearms in each of the police departments and Sheriffs' offices across Wyoming. Focusing their data collection effort on the years 2000-2002, researchers gathered data on crimes such as: murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, felon in possession of a firearm, and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.

The research goal of Phase II was to provide the U.S. Attorneys Office and the Wyoming criminal justice community in general, with a better understanding of how gun offenses proceed through the courts within the state of Wyoming. Specifically, researchers were looking at the question: What does the judicial process for the adjudication of gun offenders tried in the state of Wyoming look like? A secondary question of interest during Phase II related to juveniles and firearms crime committed on Wyoming school property. WYSAC partnered with the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) to look at the school issue.

Phase III will focus on outcomes and evaluation. WYSAC will be measuring the efficacy of the PSN media message, the number of gun crimes prosecuted at the federal level, and the prevalence of gun use in juvenile crimes.