Delco Gets $2 Million To Curb Gun Violence

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Delaware County has been awarded $2 million to help prevent gun violence, officials announced recently.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said the funding comes from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and will support the gun violence prevention efforts in Chester being led by his office.

"Today’s announcement is the result of two years of work by my office to support a collaborative approach to reducing gun violence in the City of Chester," Stollsteimer said. "This collaboration – involving my office, the Chester Police Department, and the Mayor’s office — has yielded concrete and demonstrable results – which is why PCCD looked so favorably upon our application. There is much more work to be done, but this funding provides us with an array of new tools that we believe will contribute to lower gun violence and improved quality of life for the City and its residents."

The funding awarded is specifically designated for Violence Intervention and Prevention.

Delaware County was one of only four applicants to receive the maximum grant amount. The term of the grant is for two years.

Funding was sought for community engagement activities, illegal dumpsite cleanup, additional resources for law enforcement, and more.

The grant will be managed by a program coordinator who will be tasked with overseeing a year-round calendar of activities for families and children living in Chester.

Additional community resource specialists will also be hired, who will actively work to identify and support program participants.

In addition, a case manager will assist the community resource specialists in evaluating and accessing the services needed by program participants.

Recognizing that quality of life issues have an impact on levels of crime, the District Attorney also requested funding to clean up illegal dumpsites in Chester.

Sites that are cleaned up through this funding will be equipped with cameras that will be monitored by the Chester Police Department, and violators will be prosecuted by the District Attorney’s office.

Finally, funding was also awarded to support the presence of additional officers on the streets.

In the Fall 2020, Stollsteimer launched the Chester Partnership for Safe Neighborhoods, a deterrence-based program aimed at reducing gun violence premised on a data-driven model developed by Swarthmore College alum David Kennedy.

The program, similar to ones implemented years ago in Boston and Philadelphia, works on a “carrot and stick” approach that begins by calling in influential people involved in crime, explaining that law enforcement knows who they are what they are responsible for, and giving them the ultimatum: “If you let us, we will help you; if you make us, we will stop you.”

The help may come in ways big and small, from simply getting a suspended license reinstated, or a present for someone’s daughter while they are in prison, to getting an offender into an educational or vocational program so they can improve their lot in life legally.

With the support of County Council, a community resource specialist was hired in 2020, and he works on the streets of Chester every day connecting at-risk individuals with needed services.

In addition to an emphasis on community outreach, the program relies on enhanced intelligence gathering by law enforcement, as well as the sharing of such intelligence on a continuous basis.

To that end, the detectives and attorneys in the District Attorney’s office hold weekly meetings with the Chester Police Department to ensure that all parties are working with an up-to-date, accurate assessment of conditions on the streets.