Westchester County District Attorney

The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office works closely with local schools to provide resources, training and support in an effort to increase awareness about gun safety. In partnership with Moms Demand Action and Westchester school districts, the Office launched the Safe Storage Program to proactively curb gun violence and help reduce the risk of school shootings and gun suicides among young people. The program provides school districts in Westchester County with valuable resources to be sent home with every student about gun safety and the importance of keeping guns safely secured and out of the hands of children and teens. Together with Moms Demand Action, the Office also offered the “Be SMART” virtual training countywide which focuses on increasing awareness of safe firearm storage practices and highlighting ways families can help reduce the number of child gun deaths.

The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, in partnership with the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, the Mount Vernon Police Department, the New Rochelle Police Department and the Yonkers Police Department, launched the Gun & Gang Violence Initiative in 2021.

The goal of this initiative is to prevent violent crime utilizing a precision policing and precision prosecution model targeting repeat violent offenders through short-term and long-term violent crime investigations. Partners focus on using all available investigatory tools and techniques to build cases against violent offenders and their enablers.

This model allows for each law enforcement entity to share resources and information about cross-border criminal activity more effectively and efficiently, and provide more coordinated enforcement efforts and collaborative decisions about state, federal or joint prosecutions.

The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office coordinates the Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) Initiative, funded by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. The GIVE Initiative’s goal is to reduce and prevent shootings and homicides in Mount Vernon and Yonkers. To accomplish this goal, the Office collaborates with local police departments, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the Westchester Departments of Public Safety and Probation, and other community stakeholders.

The New York State Red Flag Law prevents individuals who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing any kind of firearm, and is an important tool to keep Westchester County safe. An Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) is a court order issued when a person may be dangerous to themselves or others. An ERPO prohibits a person from buying or possessing guns and requires the person to surrender any guns they already own or possess. An ERPO case may be started by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, law enforcement, a school official, or a member of the person’s family or household.

The s Office can help Westchester County residents who believe an ERPO should be served on an individual who might use a firearm to commit a violent act. If you know of a person with access to firearms who may be a danger to themselves or others, please contact your local police department or the  Office’s ERPO representative at (914) 995-3339.