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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The city&#8217;s crusade against crime won&#8217;t be fought alone.</p><p>On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) pledged to assist in locating funding and providing exclusive firearms tracing in Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s long-term crime fighting efforts, according to a letter from Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik issued Wednesday to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.</p><p>The announcement came just hours after Marcese Cloward Grant was shot in the leg during an altercation early Friday morning inside Passion Lounge on Scott Street.</p><p>Casey, D-Scranton, in April urged the DOJ to direct additional resources to the city in the wake of seven shootings that occurred over a six-day period that month.</p><p>Last month Casey held a news conference outside police headquarters to call for preservation of a federal program that provides additional police officers to communities battling an uptick in violence.</p><p>On the year, four homicides have been reported in Wilkes-Barre, which Casey said faces economic challenges similar to &#8220;so many of our urban communities.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;If they had a huge fund that they could draw from that would be one thing,&#8221; Casey said Friday in a phone interview with the Times Leader. &#8220;Cities across the country are still recovering and just trying to make ends meet is difficult.&#8221;</p><p>But Casey said the commitment, which does not include any direct funding, was a &#8220;great benefit&#8221; that comes at no cost to the city.</p><p>&#8220;This kind of assistance is not going to end the challenge the city faces but it does provide a measure of support which is hard to replicate,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Instead of spending its own money, the department&#8217;s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) will assist the city in locating grants including funding for officer training and technical assistance.</p><p>In the last decade, the city has received nearly a quarter of a million dollars in federal funding from the DOJ&#8217;S Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. The city now is seeking $17,855 more this year for firearm instructor training/re-certification and overtime for officers patrolling problem areas.</p><p>Excluding 2008, the city has received the grant each year of the last 10 years, totaling $237,915 in funds.</p><p>In addition to guiding officials toward more funding, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will work in conjunction with city police to provide &#8220;direct, immediate assistance,&#8221; including a threat assessment of criminal networks and the prevalence of gun violence in the region.</p><p>The assessment, led by the department&#8217;s Philadelphia Field Division Crime Gun Intelligence Center, will aid officers in identifying the perpetrators of gun-related crimes and the sources of the weapons that fuel them.</p><p>The gun tracing program is exclusive to the ATF&#8217;s National Tracing Division.</p><p>&#8220;No other resource in the country can provide that type of intel,&#8221; he said. &#8220;For Wilkes-Barre to try to do that, they would have to spend a lot of money.&#8221;</p><p>A call to Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Robert Hughes was not returned Friday afternoon.</p><p>Mayor Tom Leighton said in a statement that he was &#8220;extremely thankful&#8221; for Casey&#8217;s support in requesting assistance.</p><p>&#8220;Sen. Casey shares our vision that public safety is a critical resource that cannot falter against the criminal element that has made its way into the city,&#8221; Leighton&#8217;s statement said.</p><p>Casey said there was still work to be done with the city, but he was pleased with Friday&#8217;s &#8220;breakthrough.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s part of my job and we enjoy it when we can get a result when these results are hard to come by,&#8221; he said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">U.S. Sen. Bob Casey speaks in June at a news conference outside Wilkes-Barre Police Headquarters. Casey pushed for preservation of the Community Policing Services program that could bring more officers to the region. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_cops02.jpg</photo0><caption0>U.S. Sen. Bob Casey speaks in June at a news conference outside Wilkes-Barre Police Headquarters. Casey pushed for preservation of the Community Policing Services program that could bring more officers to the region. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Joe Dolinsky can be reached at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre’s efforts to battle crime receives backing, new resources from Department of Justice