KELLY SEEKS U.S. TRIALS FOR SOME GUN CRIMES

Citing an analysis that shows stiffer prison sentences meted out in federal
court for gun crimes, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly is seeking to
expand a program under which people arrested by the police for certain
crimes can be prosecuted by federal authorities.

The move is part of a broader effort to stem gun violence, and comes in
response to a recent surge of shootings, particularly in parts of northern
Brooklyn and the Bronx, despite a decadelong decline in reported crime.

The initiative, Project Impact, is in some measure modeled after a program
that was started nearly two decades ago by Rudolph W. Giuliani, then the
United States attorney in Manhattan, under which people arrested for
certain crimes, mostly involving drugs, would be prosecuted in federal
court on certain designated days.

Mr. Kelly said the new initiative began on Tuesday in the Bronx, where the
office of District Attorney Robert T. Johnson began reviewing certain types
of gun and drug cases. When the cases fit certain criteria, Mr. Johnson's
prosecutors will forward them to the office of the United States attorney
in Manhattan, James B. Comey, for prosecution. While the program is in its
earliest stages, Mr. Kelly said the department was talking to district
attorneys in other boroughs and hoped to expand it to other parts of the city.

"The end game is, generally speaking, get people more time, based on the
structure of federal offenses," Mr. Kelly said this week. "Generally
speaking, people do more time" when prosecuted by federal authorities, he said.

Odalys C. Alonso, a senior aide to Mr. Johnson, said the program would
focus on certain problem areas of the Bronx, where officials believe
narcotics crime is fueling violence.

The initiative is intended to expand on a five-year-old program called
Project Triggerlock, under which the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms takes certain state gun cases to federal court. That program has
been successful, said Alan Vinegrad, the United States attorney in
Brooklyn, whose office has used it to nearly double its gun convictions in
recent years.

While none of the 12 arrests in the Bronx on Tuesday fit the criteria, and
were all handled in state court, Mr. Kelly said he hoped to increase the
number of cases given to Mr. Comey's office. State gun arrests can be
prosecuted federally, Ms. Alonso said, when the person arrested is also in
possession of drugs, admits to being a drug user, is a convicted felon or a
fugitive who has fled another state, is an illegal alien, is subject to a
restraining order or has been convicted of a domestic violence offense.

The analysis of prison sentences in state and federal gun cases cited by
Mr. Kelly was conducted by Garry F. McCarthy, the department's deputy
commissioner of operations. It found that of the 151 people prosecuted for
gun crimes under Project Triggerlock since 1997, 64 percent were sentenced
to one to four years in prison and 34 percent to four to eight years or
more. Of 6,965 felony gun arrests during the same period handled in state
courts, 57 percent were sentenced to a year or less in jail.

There are some pitfalls. Several defense lawyers who handle federal cases
said the plan could flood the federal courts.

Mr. Comey said that while his office traditionally focused on larger
narcotics organizations and international traffickers, the Police
Department had asked them to help out.

"What we're looking for both in terms of the street-level drug enforcement
and in firearms enforcement is to find ways the D.A.'s and Police
Department think it makes sense to use federal resources," he said. "My
philosophy of being a federal prosecutor is almost like being a free safety
in football. The object is to follow the play and figure out where the
defense can use your help."