By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MUNICIPAL DISTRICT — Prosecutors will have a more organized system to share intelligence internally and with the NYPD through the creation of a new geography-driven unit, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said Monday.
Breaking Manhattan into five districts, or clusters of police precincts, the Crime Strategies Unit will assign senior prosecutors to each area responsible for analyzing data and information about recidivist criminals, Vance said.
It will help the office understand "block by block, and building by building what's going on in the neighborhoods of Manhattan," the district attorney said.
"This enables us to have, simply, greater knowledge and context of people who are coming into our office with criminal cases," he added.
The program coordinators plan to centralize intelligence about criminals and the nature of their crimes in a database. There is currently no such system — only files and notes archived by individual attorneys and bureaus in the office.
"Important intelligence is going to be gathered and maintained and it will be, given this is the 21st Century, a lot is going to be electronically stored in our office," he said.
The unit will be headed by Assistant District Attorney Chauncey Parker, a veteran prosecutor who previously headed a federal drug trafficking prevention program.
