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Week 4: Interventions to Combat Criminal Organizations—Part I
Theories provide the foundation for understanding membership and proliferation of criminal organizations. But how can those theories be applied in the field to combat the activities of existing groups and prevent new groups from forming? The next 3 weeks introduce tools and methods criminal justice professionals can use to address the problem.
For example, imagine you are a law enforcement officer investigating a robbery-homicide. One piece of evidence about the suspect, conveyed by a reluctant witness, is a distinctive tattoo on the individual’s neck. You are able to search in a database to determine the gang affiliated with that tattoo, thus narrowing the suspect pool significantly. Alternatively, imagine you are a consultant lobbying for new federal legislation enacting harsher sentences for gang-related offenses.
This week, you move from theory to practice as you explore two methods in place to combat gangs and criminal organizations: gang databases and legislation.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Evaluate the use of gang databases to combat criminal organizations
Evaluate legislation related to crimes committed by criminal organizations
BELOW IS THE DISCUSSION QUESTION I HAVE HIGHLIGHTED WHAT NEEDS ATTENTION. PLEASE READ ALL DIRECTIONS FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOMOF THIS PAPER TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO PUT IT TOGETHER. THIS NEED TO BE A 150 TO 200 WORD COUNT WITH REFERENCE. IF YOU SHOULD NEED ANY CLARIFICATION PLEASE REACH OUT AND I WILL TRY TO HELP THANKS…
Discussion: Gang Databases
In the 1980s, when gang-related violence was on the rise, law enforcement agencies began to collect data on gang members. This data was eventually transferred into electronic gang databases, many of which are still maintained today. Today’s gang databases include information about gangs, such as their location, symbols, and alliances and rivalries, and information about actual or suspected gang members, such as their names, tattoos, vehicles, and areas they frequent. Gang databases help law enforcement solve gang-related crimes more quickly and target members that may benefit from deterrence programs. Despite the benefits of gang databases, many cities are moving toward eliminating them all together.
In this Discussion, you explore how law enforcement officers identify gang members, the pros and cons of using gang databases, and whether such databases should continue to be used.
To prepare:
Determine whether your local law enforcement agency uses a gang database. If you do not work at the agency, you may find this information on the Internet or by calling the agency to ask.
Post a response that addresses the following:
How do your local law enforcement officers identify potential gang members?
Does law enforcement in your community rely on a gang database?
What are the pros and cons of using a gang database?
Should gang databases continue to be used to combat gang-related activities? Why or why not?
Week Four Discussion: Gang Databases
Hello Everyone,
A gang database is an intelligence system that frequently stores information about known or
suspected gang members electronically (Pittman, 2021).
How does law enforcement identify potential gang members in Clark County Nevada?
It was hard to find information about how gang members are identified in Las Vegas. We
have what is called The Gang Vice Bureau and certain neighborhoods are assigned gang units
that patrol that area. That is all I could find for Vegas, I assume they identify them like most
places do, by the way they are dressed and the colors they are wearing. Another way would be
the neighborhood itself, for instance, we have the 28th Street Gang. It is pretty self-explanatory
where they are usually located. But the best way I would have to say is by their tattoos (e.g.,
Woods have a Woody Woodpecker tattoo).
Does law enforcement rely on a gang database?
Here in Vegas, yes, but not until the last few years. This is mostly because before now most
of our gangs had originated in Los Angeles and a lot of gang identification had come from
corresponding with their police departments (Dentzer, 2019). The other way is through the use
of gang units here, they patrol certain neighborhoods in unmarked cars, and they get to know
the neighborhood they are assigned to. They go door to door talking with people in their area
developing repour by getting to know “who’s who”, in their section of the city.
What are the pros and cons of using a gang database?
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the system is not up to
date. It also has many juveniles in it that have never been charged with any crimes, as well as it
contains information that may not be correct, and the laws that pertain to how information is
entered into the database vary from state to state (Teigen, 2020). Meaning some of the
information may not be accurate or legally obtained, particularly when the information involves
juveniles. One major pro for using a gang database is it is a fast, easy way to get information on
a potential gang suspect or to know things like rivals between two gangs that can become
dangerous and threatening to the community.
Should gang databases continue to be used to combat gang-related activities?
In my opinion, they would have to make a clean slate, restart an entirely new database with
rules and/or laws for how the information is entered into the system. The way it is set up now
there seems to be a lot of room for human error and bias. This only causes wrong information
and could hurt the chances of solving a case. Without regulations on how information is entered
into the system, It just seems to me that it can cause more harm than good with the way it is set
up now.
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References
Dentzer, B. (2019, March 29). Bill would allow database of gang members in Nevada. In The
Review-Journal. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/2019-
legislature/bill-would-allow-database-of-gang-members-in-nevada-1629654/
Howell, J. C., & Griffiths, E. (2018). Gangs in America’s communities (3rd ed.). (Ch. 10).
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Pittman, L. M. (2021). Constructing a compromise: The current state of gang database
legislation and how to effectuate nationwide reform.
https://ilr.law.uiowa.edu/print/volume-106-issue-3/constructing-a-compromise-the-
current-state-of-gang-database-legislation-and-how-to-effectuate-nationwide-reform/
Teigen, A. (2020, December 20). The controversy over gang databases.
https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/APA/blogpost
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