Assessing Impact of Specialized Gang Units

1
Assessing Impact of Specialized Gang Units

• Evidence From Indianapolis San Diego

2
Gang Prevalence

• Gang prevalence increased in 1980s 1990s
• Increased incursions into suburban small town
  areas
• Decreased overall crime rates
• BUT high-profile gang crimes led to skewed public
  perception

• Primary purpose of this research
• Determine range of functional activities of
  specialized gang units
• Secondary purpose
• Examine ways the activities of these units
  compared to stated goals and the linkage to
  measured outcomes

3
Prevalence of Specialized Police Units

• National surveys suggest nearly 50 of all larger
  police dept.s have specialized gang unit
• In 1997, 56 of dept.s reported having
  specialized gang unit with full-time personnel
• In 1993, 76 of dept.s reported operating
  specialized units
• Why the difference?

4
Research Questions Different Results

• Why the difference between the 1993 study and the
  1997 results?
• The number of units may have decreased from 1993
  to 1997
• Personnel could have switched duties to different
  assignments
• The 1997 survey asked about specialized gang
  units with 1 or more full-time employee
• The 1993 survey asked about ANY personnel

5
Rationale for Specialized Police Units

• To respond to new problems emerging in
  communities
• To increase accountability for specific problems
• To provide organizational flexibility in
  personnel assignments
• To focus training and develop specialized skills
• To offer symbolic evidence of organizational
  attention to specific problems

6
Public Political Frenzy

• Huff (1990) reported that most gang units formed
  following high-profile gang related event
• frenzied social and political context
• Public police administrators can inflate gang
  numbers to obtain funding exaggerate problem
• McCorkle Miethe (2002) argue that the media
  police deliberately exaggerated and distorted
  gang info to make citizens more fearful

7
San Diego

• Pop. 1.2 million
• 1900 sworn officers
• Crime rate 40 per 1000
• Community policing adopted mid-1980s
• Have routinely tracked gangs
• Drop in homicides 1990 to 1998

• Gang unit created in 1972
• Gangs have existed since early 1940s
• 85 gangs
• 5000 members
• Gang unit operates within dept.

8
Indianapolis

• Pop. 388,000
• 1300 sworn officers
• Crime rate 53 per 1000
• Community policing adopted in 1992
• Gangs emerged in mid-1980s
• 210 gangs
• 2200 members

• Juvenile unit precursor to gang unit
• Gang unit part of FBI Safe Streets Task Force
• Gang unit operates from remote location

9
Number of Gangs
Number of Gang Members
10
San Diego Goals

• Reduce gang violence number of active gang
  members
• Increase surveillance, contacts, arrest of gang
  members
• Form partnerships with patrol field commands
• Form partnerships with community groups

11
San Diego Goals Cont.

• Suppress gang violence thru enforcement directed
  at identified targets
• Obtain intelligence information from various
  sources
• Maintain accurate up to date intelligence
  database

12
San Diego Tactics

• Monthly incident reports to track gang related
  crime
• Estimated 60 of gang cases cleared
• Prosecution aimed at more serious cases
• CalGANG statewide database
• Collaboration with other jurisdictions
• Variety of measures to determine goal advancement

13
Indianapolis Goals

• Identify violent street gang organizations
  members, scope, finances, criminal activities,
  and geographic dimensions
• Assess all violent street gang organizations,
  identify 5 most violent
• Gather criminal intelligence to assist in
  developing potential targets, documenting the
  scope of a gangs criminal activities
  vulnerabilities

14
Indianapolis Goals Cont.

• Initiate a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt
  Organization (RICO) investigation
• Indict hierarchy of New Breed street gang for
  drug trafficking and remove the instruments of
  those criminal activities (guns)
• Collaborate and share intelligence with other law
  enforcement agencies
• Enhance the skills of gang unit personnel
  assigned to analytic responsibilities

15
Comparison

• BOTH
• Shared vision about antigang efforts
• Little emphasis on traditional measures

• San Diego Strengths
• Appreciation of symbolic nature of gangs
• Educate community
• Tracked gang related crime
• More responsive to public