FBINAA Magazine Q1-2022-final-v4

PHOTO CREDIT: gettyimages.com

BEFORE THE BULLET

CRAIG PETERSEN

Toward the end of 2020 and into 2021, the City of Gulfport, Miss., like many other cities, experienced a spike in violent crime. Driving the spike in violent crime was a series of drive-by shootings that involved juvenile offenders. The Gulfport Police Department employed traditional police methods such as proactive directed patrols and created a street crimes unit with gun crime as their primary focus. The department also partnered with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in “Project Eject,” part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative , to target offenders of violent crime. These efforts were successful but, in many instances, cases were made after the crimes occurred.

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