By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Police and prosecutors say a program launched in 2001 to reduce gun violence is starting to put a dent in Cincinnati's crime rate.

The program, known as Project Safe Neighborhoods, was created nearly two years ago in response to the city's most violent summer in decades.

The goal was to use tough federal gun laws to hand down longer prison sentences to the city's worst criminals.

Law enforcement officials said Thursday the program appears to be working.

Police said the city's homicide rate - which was on a record pace earlier this year - has slowed and is now behind last year's rate.

Thirty people have died so far this year, compared with 32 at this time in 2002.

Police also have seen a sharp increase in calls from citizens about criminal activity.

Crimestoppers, which processes hundreds of anonymous tips every year, has received more than 1,600 calls so far this year. That's about 600 calls ahead of last year's total.

Authorities say Project Safe Neighborhoods is at least one of the reasons for the improving numbers.

Since the program began in October 2001, 24 people have been sentenced to an average of four years each for gun-related crimes.

Eight others are awaiting trial in federal court, and five are awaiting sentencing.

"We're having success," said U.S. Attorney Gregory Lockhart, whose office prosecutes the gun cases. "These felons are off the street and will be for some time."

He said calls to Crimestoppers suggest citizens are more eager to come forward with information because they now know that criminals will get harsher penalties than in the past.

Police Chief Tom Streicher said the homicide numbers, while only a modest improvement over last year, are "a tangible result" of the gun program.

The program allows county prosecutors to more easily identify suspects who are good candidates for federal gun charges - and the longer prison sentences that go with those charges.

Those suspects can then be transferred to federal jurisdiction and charged under federal law.

"Crime is down," Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen said.

"The reason is simple: The worst of the worst are getting locked up."

E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com