-- From Times staff reporter Mike Carter:

A local prosecutor has been honored by the U.S. Department of Justice for his role in a national program aimed at reducing gun and gang violence.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Colasurdo was honored by the DOJ as part of its "Project Safe Neighborhoods Achievement Awards."

Colasurdo is a senior deputy King County prosecutor who has been cross-designated as an assistant U.S. attorney. His job is to review every gun crime in King County, and take the most serious offenders into federal court, where the penalties for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm are stiff.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle says Colasurdo has reviewed nearly 1,000 gun-crime cases in the past six years, and has taken 172 of them into the federal system, many involving "violent gang members." In another 773 cases, the prospect of federal prosecution prompted pleas to state firearms violation charges.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said Colasurdo's efforts has "helped make our community a much safer place from armed career criminals."

U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said the award, presented at a conference in New Orleans, "proves what we have known for quite some time: Andy Colasurdo has built a model program for local and federal coordination in prosecuting gun crime. The citizens of our district are well served by such a dedicated and hard working prosecutor."