Annapolis, MD – Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess announced today that Governor Larry Hogan and the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention of Maryland has awarded her office the Gun Violence Reduction Grant totaling $100,000 which will support the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office Gun Violence Reduction Program.
The funding will help establish a gun prosecution program targeting repeat offenders charged with the illegal use or possession of firearms, as well as address the needs of the citizens of Anne Arundel County through a coordinated community response. In addition, the program intends to develop effective prosecution strategies focused on identifying at-risk youthful and minor offenders to focus on early intervention to prevent them from re-offending. The grant will provide a new prosecutor to work with the prosecution team and the Annapolis City and Anne Arundel County Police Departments to ensure that gun offenders are held accountable.
The grant will begin July 11, 2019.
“As the Anne Arundel County community continues to grow, unfortunately, so has the number of crimes that have been committed involving the use of guns,” says Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess. “With the Gun Violence Reduction Grant, the State’s Attorney’s Office will be able to provide a more thorough and targeted focus on gun violence prevention throughout the county as a whole and within those communities that have been immediately affected by gun violence. I hope to identify those individuals who are starting down the path toward violent crime and disrupt their trajectory through early intervention before it is too late.”
In the last year, the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office prosecuted cases where guns were used in eight murders and 17 attempted murders.