Program Abstract (Attachment 1)
City of Saint Paul Police Department
African Immigrant Muslim Coordinated Outreach Program (AIMCOP)
$670,679
Category 1: Comprehensive Community?Based Data-Driven Approaches to
Preventing and Reducing Violent Crime

This project will meet the goals of the Recovery Act by hiring and sUstainment of
four personnel who are necessary to perform the activities of the project. The
collaborative will engage in several activities to meet the additional goals of preventing
radicalization, reducing violent crime, and increasing crime prevention efforts. The goals
of the project will be met by performing the following activities: a targeted outreach to
the community to gain trust, expansion of the PAL program within the city to serve
the youth ages 8-14, utilizing the YWCA to perform mentoring, basic skills, and life
skills programs for ages 8?22, crime prevention activities for the community and victims
by an advocate, and ?nally, identi?cation and intervention of individuals at risk of
radicalization, gang involvement, and violent crime. Objectives and performance
measures: Number of Jobs retained: Number of Jobs Created: - 4 - Hiring of a
project manager, a youth worker, and two advocates. Promoting economic
recovery: -- Percent increase of essential services We community outreach 450%, two
Somali advocates services through the YWCA project management

services increase in PAL to community. Hiring can occur within one

month of award.

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Program Narrative (Attachment II)
Category I: Comprehensive Community-Based Data?Driven Approaches to Preventing

and Reducing Violent Crime
A?ican Immigrant Muslim Coordinated Outreach Program (AIMCOP)

Statement of the Problem
The Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota have the largest Muslim/ Somali
S) community in the nation. This community is experiencing multiple issues of violent
crime, gang activity, illegal drug use, and the radicalization of youth in the City of St. Paul. The
majority of the immigrants reside in public and section eight housing. There are 15,000
people living in the ?ve public housing sites in addition to the two section. eight sites. The
average family size is one head of household three?four children. The mean income per
family?s living in public housing is $10,000 a year. In the public housing grids, the crime rate is
81.2 percent higher than the city?wide average. There are approximately 2,350 juvenile runaways
per year in St. Paul. Runaways have historically resulted in an increased likelihood of criminal
activity. An increase of 109 percent occurred from 2006 to 2008 in the number of juveniles listed
in police reports related to gang activity. Juvenile violent crime has risen 29.7 percent in two
years with juvenile robbery arrests up 60 percent from 2006 to 2008. The effects of these crimes
have resulted in a decreased quality of life for the community, the breeding of additional crime,
and decreased livability in our communities. In our city sister of Minneapolis, ?ve Somali youth
were murdered within a 12 month time?ame in 2007-2008. Of particular concern is the
demonstrated radicalization of 20 youth ?om our area who have left for Somali to ?ght for the
terrorist organization al Shabaab. The City of St. Paul is well positioned to address these

signi?cant issues as a result of our previous outreach with the WS community. The activities we

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propose in this grant can start within one-month and include hiring a Somali speaking
community-service worker, a youth worker, a Somali speaking advocate, a project manager, and
increase activities that support youth mentoring.

This project will meet the goals of the Recovery Act by hiring and sustainment of the
above individuals who are necessary to perform the activities of the project. In addition, our
project will meet the stated purposes of the Recovery Act to promote economic recovery and to
assist those most impacted by the recession. The city has received a $29.5 million cut in local
government aid from the State of Minnesota. The police department?s share of this reduction is
$10.7 million, a cutback off 50 of?cers, and without funding provided through the RecoVery Act,
we will not be able to attack this substantial and growing problem in our city.

Program Design and Implementation

This project will be implemented with a community?based best?practice collaborative
including the FBI, the US. Attorney?s Of?ce (USAO), Ramsey County Sheriff Of?ce (RCSO),
the Muslim American Society (MAS), St. Paul Intervention Project (SPIP), the newly formed
Somali Community Council (SCC), the St. Paul YWCA, and the St. Paul Police Department
(SPPB). The collaborative will engage in several activities to meet the goals of preventing
radicalization, reducing violent crime, and increasing crime prevention efforts. Best practices on
building the capacity of communities and community outreach will be used as outlined in the
article by Acosta and Chavis, ?Build the Capacity of Communities to Address Crime,? that states
in part, . . it is essential to build the capacity of communities to reduce crime by engaging the
citizens affected by crime? (CriminoZogy and Public Policy (N 0V 2007)). In addition the article,
?Build a Criminal Justice Policy for Terrorism? by Lafree and Hendrickson in the same oumal,

supports our method of addressing terrorism utilizing the criminal justice system. Speci?cally,

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the article states, . . criminal justice approaches have contributed a great deal to the
identi?cation, capture, and incapacitation of those using terrorist methods.? Additionally,
lessons?learned from ?Building Strong Police-Immigrant Community Relations: Lessons from a
New York City Project and Law Enforcement Arab American Community Relations After
September 11, 2001, Engagement in a Time of Uncertainty,? from the Vera Institute of Justice
(2006) are incorporated into the proj ect. Speci?cally, the report states, ?Toward local police
agencies, Arab Arnericans reported a fair amount of goodwill, even in jurisdictions where the
two had little interaction. Where departments invested resources to cultivate this goodwill, the
evidence points to dividends in the form of reduced tension . . . Finally, our research found that
community members and law enforcement respondents alike wanted improved relations. Given
the popularity of community policing principles in recent times, however, surprisingly few
jurisdictions were active in this regard. Where such measures had been adOpted, we found
meaningful partnerships that, consistent with community-oriented policing philosophy,
suggested better success at addressing concerns about local and national security alike.?

The goals of the project will be met by performing the following activities: a targeted
outreach to the community to gain trust, expansion of the PAL program within the city to
serve the youth ages 8-14, utilizing the YWCA to perform mentoring, basic skills, and life skills
programs for ages 8-22, crime prevention activities for the community and victims by an
advocate, and ?nally, identi?cation and intervention of individuals at risk of radicalization, gang
involvement, and violent crime. Objectives and performance measures: Number of Jobs
retained: Number of Jobs Created: 4 Hiring of a project manager, a youth worker, and
two advocates. Promoting economic recovery: -- Percent increase of essential services 

community outreach 450%, two Somali advocates services through the YWCA

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project management services increase in PAL to community. Hiring can
occur within one month of award.

The SPPD and the RCSO, coordinated by the project manager and in partnership with the
FBI and US Attorney?s Of?ce, will identify a group of of?cers/agents who will be trained in
culture by the MAS advocate and will form a prevention. and enforcement team that will
?rst seek to gain the trust of the Somali immigrants. While in the prevention period of the grant,
this team, along with the two Somali speaking advocates (from MAS and will attend
community meetings in the targeted areas and refer youth to the PAL and YWCA programs.
The SCC will serve as the core conduit into the community. During this period, the team will
also identify radicalized individuals, gang members, and violent offenders who refuse to
cooperate with our efforts. Using established criteria that will stand up to public and legal
scrutiny, the team will establish a list that identi?es radicalized youth, gang members, and
violent offenders. The project manager will coordinate with team members and will require
members to submit a contact report. The proj ect manager will be responsible for maintaining
the database and sharing the information with the partners. The effort of identifying the targets
will increase law enforcement?s ability to maintain up-to?date intelligence on these offenders,
alert team members to persons who are deserving of additional investigative efforts and will
serve as an enhanced intelligence system to alert team members to the fact that they are
interacting with an individual who poses a greater risk to personal and public safety.

Objectives and performance measures: Promoting economic recovery Number of
collaborative partnerships established to avoid reductions in essential services and duplication 
see above for collaborative partners. 0 facilitate justice infomation sharing, collaboration,

and problem solving this will be a new data base and, therefore, there is a 100 percent increase

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in the measures below: 100% increase in database inquiries, 100% increase in the number of
submissions to a database, 100% increase of tips/leads referred to other agencies that result in an
arrest or conviction. I

This intensive prevention period will last for six months and once completed, the of?cers
will move to the enforcement mode using the information they have gained from the prevention
period as well as the automated intelligence and reporting systems already in place. The team
will identify ?hot spots? for criminal activity. These activities in the grant will involve a show of
force, intent, and purpose by means of highly visible and intense enforcement action based on
?zero tolerance? for violations of all city, state, and federal laws. This initial enforcement will
laSt until the hot Spot criminal activity ceases while the mentoring activities continue in the
community. Throughout the project, situational assessments will be made to determine whether
the team will continue enforcement or return to prevention depending on outcome. The
mentoring components of the project will continue during the enforcement phase(s) of the
project. Objectives and performance measures: To enhance or implement initiatives to reduce
the incidence of violent crime or improve services to victims Total number of initiatives
planned with Byme funding 4 Prevention including outreach, PAL program, YWCA services,
and enforcement. oral number of individuals provided programming community member
outreach 500 participation in PAL 200 YWCA 60 youth.

This grant improves the function of the criminal justice system, ?rst, by forming
partnerships between local and federal agencies in an area never before addressed. Second, this
project has a broader implication to the criminal justice system in the terrorism area if we are

able to prevent the radicalization from occurring.

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A ?nal activity of this grant will be for the project manager to prepare a best

practices/lessons-learned guide that details the successes and failures of the initiative.

Capabilities/competencies:

St. Paul has a long involvement in community policing centered on strong neighborhood
identi?cation by both the citizens and the police of?cers. In the last ?ve years, the department
has cultivated working relationships with all groups in the community including the most recent
set of immigrants. We have also established a PAL (Police Athletic League) program, a
G.R.E.A.T. (Gang Resistance Education and Training) program, expanded the A Community
Outreach Program (ACOP) in public housing, and established the God Squad to work with youth
in the community. This department also established a gang unit in 2005 with a holistic approach
designed to prevent, intervene, and suppress gangs. The total budget for the department in 2008
is $73,574,442. The department manages grants of approximately three million dollars on an
annual basis.

If awarded, the following SPPD, (RCSO), (MAS), YWCA, and (SPIP) personnel will be
assigned: With 25 years of experience, retired St. Paul Assistant Chief of Police Dennis Jensen
will lead the outreach efforts as the project manager. He has spent the last two years as the
Homeland Security Director for the Ramsey County Sheriffs Of?ce. Mr. Jensen holds a Master
of Arts in National Security Studies from the United States Naval Postgraduate School and
attended the FBI National Academy. Sgt. Ray Jefferson, as unit head of the department?s efforts
in public housing, will lead the efforts with youth outreach. Asad Zaman is the Vice?President of
MAS of Minnesota and will direct the community outreach efforts by MAS. Shelley ohnson~

Cline is the Executive Director of the SPIP, which focused on reducing domestic violence for the

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past twenty years. Christina McCoy, Director of Youth Development, will provide oversight and
coordination of YWCA-related activities and services. Ms. McCoy brings over a decade of
experience working with high-risk youth and their families. The St. Paul Police Research,
Grants, and Finance Director, Amy Brown, has a Master?s Degree in Management and has
attended Northwestern University Center for Public Safety Police Staff and Command School
and will manage the ?nancial and other reporting aspects of this grant. All expenditures related
to this grant will be funneled ?rst through the ?nance and grants manager and then to the
accountant at the police department. No outside agencies are involved in the ?nancial aspects of
this grant. All grants are managed within the city?s ?nance system and each grant is assigned a
separate activity fer tracking and drawdown purposes. All expenditures are also tracked on a -

separate spreadsheet.

Impact/Outcomes, Evaluations, Sustainment, and Description of the Applicant?s Plan for
the Collection of the Data Required for Performance Measures

The department understands and agrees to participate in an evaluation of the program to
be managed by NIJ. As a result of its design, this project will enhance communication, develop
and solidify partnerships, create unique opportunities that will tend to enhance knowledge, skills
and abilities, fuel creative and dynamic enforcement strategies among and between multi?
jurisdictional law enforcement agencies, federal partners, and community programs.
The department expects this grant to: expand community policing, increase public safety in St.
Paul neighborhoods with high concentrations of immigrant families; improve perceptions of
law enforcement within the immigrant communities; reduce crime in target areas. Perhaps
the most important impact is increased homeland security as the trust relationship" grows and the

community works with law enforcement to prevent radicalization.

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Applicants for this grant program recognize what gets measured gets done. The ultimate
goal of this program is to reduce the number of violent crimes in the target areas and ensure no
further radicalization of the youth from St. Paul. For all performance measures, program data
will be collected automatically by means of existing SPPD CAD, RMS and arrest reports, daily
activity summaries, and an analysis of data collected from the project manager. Success will be
measured by comparing a compilation of incidents in the target areas for the program year to
previously documented incident totals. An analysis of crime statistics for violent crime as well
as quality of life crime will be conducted at the end of the project for comparison to totals for
prior years. A decrease in crime totals will indicate success. There will be a decrease of 50 
the number of juveniles listed in police reports related to gang activity compared to the prior
year before grant implementation.

The City of St. Paul will realize the effects of a successful project via at least a 30%
reduction in crime associated in the target areas. No youth will be reported to have left St.
Paul to join a1 Shabaab. Success will also be measured by 260 youth who are mentored at the
YWCA or join our PAL program. In addition to the quarterly reporting, which will be
completed by the research manager once all aspects are completed, there will be a best-practice
guide.

The departrnent will sustain this program after the grant period expires and the methods

have been proven successful by requesting additional funds during our regular budget process.