BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The city of Birmingham will be joining newly created National Public Safety Partnership, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Tuesday. A part of President Donald Trump’s plan to lower crime rates, the NPSP was created as a result of a February Executive Order that tasked DOJ with reducing violent crime. The program will work to help state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials and prosecutors with their investigations of gun, drug, trafficking, and gang crimes.

“Turning back the recent troubling increase in violent crime in our country is a top priority of the Department of Justice and the Trump Administration, as we work to fulfill the President’s promise to make America safe again,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “Our new National Public Safety Partnership program will help these communities build up their own capacity to fight crime, by making use of data-driven, evidence-based strategies tailored to specific local concerns, and by drawing upon the expertise and resources of our Department.”

Birmingham is one of 12 cities that will receive assistance from DOJ. Other cities chosen include Indianapolis, Indiana; Memphis, Tennessee; Toledo, Ohio; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Buffalo, New York; Cincinnati, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Jackson, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; Lansing, Michigan; and Springfield, Illinois.

The PSP program will provide diagnostic and operations teams to the selected cities. Diagnostic teams will work with local law enforcement officials to figure out which issues most plague a community and the develop a violence reduction plan. Operations teams will train local law enforcement how to better coordinate their efforts to reduce and prosecute violent crime.

DOJ expects to announce further program expansions throughout the calendar year.