Feature

Gang Unit Management

Ret. Sgt. Wes McBride is the President of the California Gang Investigators Assoc. He is an expert on California street gangs.

Gang Unit Management

by Wesley D. McBride

Street gangs remain a terrible burden on our society and are responsible for much of the social degeneration of those neighborhoods infested with their presence. In some respects the actions of the street gangs do more damage within the internal security of our nation than actions of foreign terrorists. While acts of deliberate terrorism as demonstrated by the horrific attacks of 9/11 are sickening to the very soul of our society, the end result was a unique bonding of the American people. While the constant criminal actions of street gangs bring about a "gang phobia" that threatens to destroy the moral fiber of our society, alienating segments of people rather than bonding them together. Public surveys continually demonstrate that gang crime remains the top concern of many communities.

In the late 1990's a noticeable decline in gang activity occurred. In response to this decline much of the funding for gang programming began to dry up. Prevention and Intervention programs simply went away due to a lack of funding. Many law enforcement agencies began to decommission or severely downsize the gang units in order to staff other necessary units within the departments. In response to the events of 9/11, other agencies, unable to add personnel reassigned the gang units to anti-terrorism duties. As the old saying goes “history repeats itself, particularly bad history,” and once the pressure on the street gangs was relaxed, the cycle of gang violence began to repeat itself and began to surge upward. This increase is now approaching the record levels of the 1990s. This development has forced many of the law enforcement agencies to face the reality of gang violence and reconsider the premature curtailment of specialized gang units

The presence of specialized gang units may present unique problems to the political establishment of some communities and specifically to the law enforcement agency. Particularly for those in the power structure who, for a variety of social and political reasons have consistently denied the existence of a gang problem or lobbied for the decommissioning of the gang units. Now, faced with mounting evidence of surging gang activity, to admit a problem exists creates a dichotomy for those who that denied the presence of gangs. The illusion of social tranquility so carefully crafted by the politicos rapidly disintegrates in the face of bloody evidence, leaving a void of credibility and suspicion among the constituency. Methods of dealing with the burgeoning gang problem must now be hastily developed and implemented to meet the demands of a frightened and demanding public.

Once the political system officially acknowledges the presence of a gang problem, resources must be put into motion to deal with it before the onset of a media induced hysteria infects the community. The effectiveness of the law enforcement response will depend upon the prior preparedness of the agency. To adequately address the gang problem, it will be necessary to establish, or reintroduce, a gang unit staffed by officers specializing in street gang enforcement. The tactical response to the crisis can be enhanced and accelerated if the agency has maintained within its ranks officers with knowledge of the gang lifestyle and who are specialists in street gang habits.

While the agency will need to respond as quickly as possible to the gang threat, the establishment of a gang unit must be handled carefully, and with as much forethought and planning as possible. Thought must be given to the purpose of the unit, its mission and goals. The unit's procedural policies and methods of operation should be decided upon prior to implementation of the team.

The gang unit can only perform its mission by being given organizational support;, therefore, it is vital that the department head make it explicitly clear that the unit's mission is a priority to the department. Executive support must be demonstrated with conviction down through the ranks. The team's ability to gain the willing cooperation and acceptance from their law enforcement peer group will determine the team’s viability and effectiveness.

The prime factor in creating a successful gang team is personnel selection. Due to the nature of the gang unit’s mission of intervening in the violent gang process, it is critical that particular attention be paid to the personnel selection process. Preference must be given to officers that have established themselves as being self motivated, with good communication skills, and the ability to communicate effectively with all segments of the community. Other desirable traits that should influence the selection process would be knowledge of the community and the local gangs. Ethnic balance of the gang team is also a consideration that must be given some thought. The ethnicity of the gang officer is of less importance to the gang member than the officer’s attitude toward the individual gang members. However, it is understandable that organizations must strive for balance due to the political and cultural diversity of our communities, and the need to establish credibility in the public’s mind for continued support.

The officers must possess personal traits that allow them to deal with gang members in a manner that builds rapport and fosters communications. Rapport building must not be based on appeasement. Appeasement is not an acceptable response, street gang members come from subcultures that will initially view kindness as weakness, therefore, the officers must be able to establish a working rapport without compromising their integrity or appearing weak willed. This in no way implies that officers should brutalize gang members or consciously violate their constitutional rights. One should always deal with the gang members in a professional manner. The old saying “Firm but fair” works well in the law enforcement and gangster relationship. The officers must also have the ability to adjust from their enforcement role with the gang members to tactfully deal with citizen's groups, schools, and other agencies in a professional manner.

If one could use only one word to describe a gang member that word would be attitude. Gang unit officers must also develop an attitude that gang members can read as readily as the gang officer reads theirs. The gang officer's attitude must be one of professionalism. The officers should not attempt to establish themselves as the gangster's best friend or confidant, but it must also be one of approachability and fairness. The officer must be prepared to provide social welfare sources of assistance to those gang members that request assistance in changing their criminal lifestyles.

Prior to the selection of the team, a decision should be made as to whether the unit should be uniformed, plainclothes, or a combination of both. Certainly, this decision may need to be based on the mission and budgeted size of the team. One option would be to make the team investigative in nature and responsible for the criminal cases involving gangs. A second option would be to make the unit primarily an intelligence gathering detail that gathers information from contacts on the street and other sources. The gang intelligence unit would then be responsible for assisting the investigators with their cases using information from street contacts and gang files. Another option would be to make the unit a uniformed patrol detail assigned to a highly visible mode of selective enforcement in the gang neighborhoods. Of course, optimally the best scenario would be a “Full Service” gang unit that was a combination of investigative, intelligence, and uniformed suppression with close ties to the Department’s prevention and intervention services.

Of the three major available options, intelligence gathering is the most important. Before law enforcement can move effectively against the gangs, detailed information as to membership and gang activity must be available. This information must be obtained by officers using traditional intelligence gathering methods involving informants, observation, community contacts, and crime analysis. The gang unit need not operate covertly within the neighborhood, but rather, they should be openly visible. The team members should make themselves not only visible, but approachable, to all members of the community, including the gang members. Visibility does not necessarily mean uniformed. Gang members tend not to be sophisticated criminal minds. In their limited scope of the law enforcement world a plain clothes officer many times is seen as more powerful than the uniformed officer. Therefore, he will accept the plainclothes officer and his interactions more readily than those of the uniformed officer.

The name of the game when dealing with gangs is information. Information on the criminal conduct of the street gangs is obtained through communication by the officer with members of the community, but especially with the gang members. That means that the officers must be in the field not tethered to a desk and be in the field at the times that the gang members tend to be there, which is generally, evenings and particularly on weekend evenings. Simple crime analysis of gang crime will pinpoint the general times and arenas of probable gang activity and provide deployment data readily.

The purpose of gathering gang intelligence is to use the information gathered to assist investigators in solving gang crime by identifying the participants, to diffuse gang tensions, and prevent crime. Intelligence must be shared with those units that require it, as well as those within the command staff that direct operations. Gang intelligence units must not operate in the traditional and historical secretive intelligence mode of yesteryear that seldom shared information. Street gangs are street criminals and information flow must be consistently shared between patrol operations, custody, investigation, and intelligence units in order to accomplish the mission of reducing and preventing gang crime.

Some departments have opted to staff the gang unit with investigators and have the unit handle the investigation of gang crimes along with the intelligence function. While this can be a viable concept, departments need to consider certain disadvantages to this arrangement. If the area has a high rate of gang activity and if the investigators are buried beneath heavy caseloads the intelligence function will suffer. Without fresh intelligence, the information needed to solve cases evaporates and the unit simply becomes another overworked detective unit. If the unit is to handle cases, the department must adequately staff the unit to perform all the needed functions. Ideally, in such units certain investigators handle cases while others perform the intelligence functions and the information is shared.

Experience has shown that if the gang unit handles cases, it is advantageous to handle most categories of the crimes committed by the gangs, including adult and juvenile crimes. In this manner, the gang unit stays current on who's who in the gang world. They will also be aware of the younger gang members as they rise in the gang's hierarchy. It is a mistake to give the gang unit the responsibility for homicide case assignments. These types of cases are very labor and time intensive, after a few homicides the gang unit will be totally absorbed in the intensive homicide investigations, again sacrificing the street and intelligence work. They would then have little or no time to devote to alleviating the overall gang problem which was the original mission. The gang unit is of more use assisting the homicide investigators with their cases by making available their intelligence information and using their community contacts to gather information on the case.

The same can be said of narcotics investigations. While in many ways the words gang and narcotics are synonymous, and do have much in common, there are significant differences. Generally speaking, the gang’s involvement in narcotic distribution is just one adjunct of the gang lifestyle, and in many cases not a significant source of gang violence or overall gang activity. Seldom does a gang unit survive the transition from gang unit to narcotic unit in tact, with the gang intelligence or street suppression activities truly functional. The investigators must become so immersed in the world of narcotic trafficking that all other gang functionality of the unit ceases to exist. Once again the best option is a sharing of information between the two separate and distinct units.

Another option available to departments is to field the gang unit out of the uniformed patrol force in a directed patrol mode. This also is a viable option, but has some limitations. Uniformed personnel are not unusually seen as open or approachable by the citizens in those neighborhoods that produce gangs. Therefore, to be effective a uniformed unit must be free from answering normal calls for service in order to devote time establishing their credentials in those neighborhoods. The officers can be trained in community oriented policing concepts, gang awareness, and be directed to pay particular attention to the gangs.

Each option has its strengths and weaknesses; ideally a combination of all three offers the best results in curtailing gang violence. To add even more effectiveness to this unit, the department should persuade the District Attorney's Office to assign a prosecutor to assist the gang unit in its operations and prosecutions. The Probation Department should be consulted and a probation officer added to the team to enforce conditions of probation on gang members contacted.

The gang unit must also be responsible for maintaining a liaison with surrounding agencies and exchanging information on a regular basis. Gang members must be aware that their activities are now being observed and made to feel uncomfortable in their criminal lifestyles. Regular meetings of officers and agencies involved in curtailing gang activity should be conducted establishing an information sharing network.

Command staff must decide where within the department to assign the gang unit. Political infighting between divisions is not uncommon, and can prove detrimental to the early support needed by the fledgling gang unit. According to the departmental size, decisions must be made as to whether the unit will have centralized or de-centralized command and control, and under which command such a unit belongs once established. In large departments it has been shown that the gang unit is most effective if assigned under a centralized command, with decentralized teams if the geographical area is large. Decentralized teams within independent commands make effective communications difficult. It also creates an atmosphere ripe for political infighting and detrimental team competition.

Once the Department makes the decision to form the gang unit a mission statement must be designed to guide the unit and its actions. As an example, the following mission statement was developed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for use by the gang details assigned to the Safe Streets Bureau.

"The mission of the Safe Streets Bureau is to reduce gang violence by the vigorous application of contemporary law enforcement techniques. This concept is based upon the professional application of legal and ethical anti-gang practices within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's stated mission and its core values. These practices are designed to insure the safety and welfare of all residents while maintaining community order. Safe Streets Bureau's anti-gang efforts are designed to incorporate a collaborative effort with the community to insure that a partnership is achieved that will determine the most prudent course. Street gangs threaten the safety and well being of residents within our communities which we, as members of the Department, have a sworn duty to protect. With this valued trust in mind, the Safe Streets Bureau is dedicated to the equal administration of justice to all factions of the communities we serve in a humanitarian and responsible manner. Safe Streets is not simply the title of our Bureau, but a goal that the dedicated men and women of the Bureau strive for in the daily performance of their duty."
Much of today's law enforcement is based on the “new and innovative” concept of Community Oriented Policing. Community policing is perceived by many of today's law enforcement executives as an enlightened approach to police deployment and practices. The basis of community policing is theoretically to bring the police officer back into the community as a recognizable personality rather than some faceless enforcer gliding by in a police cruiser. The theory being that such a bonding between law enforcement and the community will lower crime rates and increase public confidence in law enforcement agencies.

Community Oriented Policing is not a “new” concept; it is best described as a “rediscovered” concept. The idealism espoused in community policing can have a tremendous effect in reducing the threat of street gangs. The implementation of partnership programs involving the community and police to control street gang activity is the epitome of sound community policing. Most gang units that have been effective in the past have practiced this concept from their conception. Successful gang units tend to be those whose work includes close personal contact with the community. This contact is accomplished through daily interaction with community groups, schools, individual citizens, and the gang members themselves.

Those charged with investigating the street gangs must have a clear picture of what they are to investigate. Therefore, it is imperative that the department establish guidelines defining what constitutes a street gang, gang activity, and a gang member. These definitions must have validity and meet current legal standards.

The gang file is one of the most important and necessary tools that a gang investigator has at his disposal, but these files can also be the most controversial component of the gang unit. If the files are not properly maintained and safeguarded, they can bring about the undoing of the gang unit and be the subject of expensive litigation. Civil libertarians have often argued against the maintenance of gang files contending that they are unconstitutional and a violation of the civil rights of the gangster. Gang files built on solid definitions, along with creditable standards, are legally and morally defensible, and have withstood court challenges.

One must not dismiss the arguments of the civil libertarians out of hand. Law enforcement must always be concerned that their actions are legal, professional and necessary to maintain the public peace. One of the most basic elements of street gang activity is the consistent criminal behavior of the majority of gang members. Any group which has, as a primary activity, the commission of crime unquestionably presents a clear and present danger to the community. Confronted with such malevolent forces, those charged with the community's public safety have a duty to protect its citizens from those criminal societies. The tracking of criminal organizations is an integral part of combating their illegal ventures as long as that tracking is done in legal and moral matter.

The legal challenges and debates that were made of the early systems that pioneered the development of modern day gang files served to establish their legitimacy. These challenges caused common criteria to be cooperatively developed by criminal justice agencies for use as a standard in maintaining gang files. Development of such standardized criteria added to the credibility and integrity of the system.