Intelligent Gang Intelligence-- From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Gang expert gives primer
Police recruits learn to help detectives solve crimes
BY DANIEL NASAW ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
The class winced as detective Todd Hurd showed a photograph of a gang member’s bullet-riddled corpse. "Have you ever banged your shin?" he asked the rapt audience of 26 gray-suited police recruits Friday morning in a dim, windowless lecture hall at the Little Rock Police Department training facility. "Multiply that by a thousand," he said, adding that the man was probably dead before he hit the ground.
Using a gallery of intelligence photos and video surveillance footage he’s gathered during a decade as the department’s gang intelligence expert, Hurd spent three hours teaching the recruits about the street gangs that run much of the city’s narcotics trade.
The training, which Hurd began offering recruits about three years ago, is intended to arm the patrolmen with the knowledge they need to help detectives solve gang-related crimes. He taught them to recognize and interpret gang tattoos and graffiti, showed video of men throwing up gang hand signals and offered tips for interviewing gang members.
While the gang situation isn’t as bad as it was in the mid-1990s, when Little Rock suffered a rash of gang killings, police are preparing for a crop of veteran gang members to be released from prison and for the ascendance of Hispanic and motorcycle gangs.
Hurd is the department’s sole gang expert, but patrolmen are the eyes and ears of the Police Department, and what they learn on the beat through encounters with citizens and while making arrests and traffic stops can assist him. Well-trained patrolmen can inform detectives about gang activity where a violent crime occurred, helping to determine a motive for a crime and recognize patterns. They know what’s going on in their districts and have sources of information they can tap to aid an detective’s investigation. They also can help detectives execute arrest warrants, because their knowledge of a neighborhood can help them find a suspect more quickly. "They are the ones familiar with what gangs control the area," said Capt. David Ebinger, commander of the Little Rock Police Department’s detective division.
Hurd estimates there are about 26 active criminal gangs in Little Rock, affiliated with some of the largest groups in the county — Bloods and Crips, Vice Lords and Gangster Disciples, the Surenos 13 Hispanic gang and Hells Angels and Bandidos motorcycle gangs.
Many support themselves by dealing crack cocaine and marijuana, Hurd said, although some deal in counterfeit currency and distribute bootlegged compact discs. "This is not West Side Story, where they’re out there dancing," he said. "This is a business." It’s a violent one.
These gangs are well armed, he said, even carrying AK-47-style assault rifles, found "a dime a dozen" in the drug houses police have hit. "Every year I go through this thing, and there are a couple guys that didn’t make it," he said, pointing out some of the men in a video taken during a gang party.
Hurd spoke at length about the tattoos gang members wear to demonstrate their allegiance. He urged the recruits to make detailed notes of the tattoos on police reports, rather than simply writing "numerous." "When you stop these guys, look at their necks, their calves," he said.
He took the recruits through the arcane gang slang and symbolism, noting that many use an alphanumeric code, in which a "3" represents a "c," for instance. Patrolmen should know that "3 rab Killaz" is code for Blood-affiliated gangsters, because "crab" is a derogatory term for a rival Crip. Under the same rules, Crips don’t like "ck" because it stands for "Crip Killer," hence the spelling of the "Nutty Blocc Crips" group’s name. The Vice Lords, a waning gang originally from Chicago, favor five-pointed stars, crescent moons and stylized martini glasses — the shape hinting at a V and an L.
A well-written report made after an arrest or a traffic stop, Hurd said, is an intelligence "land mine" that can later assist an investigation. A traffic stop can link a car’s passengers with the driver.
Hurd encouraged the recruits to begin developing informants their first day on the streets, noting that some of his best informants were people he arrested while on patrol. Gang members might tell police what rivals have done, he said, and shooting victims are often willing to talk, especially if they think they may die. But Hurd cautioned that wounded gang members planning to take revenge won’t want to talk to police. Gang members who’ve been victims of property crime may give police personal information, including their real home address.
Patrolmen have to learn how to discern the hard-core gangsters from the dilettantes. Treating a loosely affiliated youth like a hardened criminal will alienate him, but being too friendly with him in front of his friends will put him in an awkward situation. "It’s almost like learning etiquette," Ebinger said.
The climate in the Little Rock area has evolved since gangs first emerged here in the late 1980s. Gang members are less likely now to incite violence over turf or gang colors, because the boundaries of gang territories have stabilized.
They’re also less likely to advertise gang affiliation, said North Little Rock Detective B.T. Carmical, and that makes a patrolman’s job harder. "The old days of flagging are pretty much over," he said, referring to the gang hand signs members flash. "We have to look for other signs," like certain sports jerseys.
Hurd said that in the past gangs tended to be fixed to a particular street, but they’ve learned they can function more efficiently and with less threat from police and rivals by shifting their bases of operations. "As the gang situation has developed," he said, "we’ve got to develop, too."
This story was published Saturday, May 28, 2005
Police recruits learn to help detectives solve crimes
BY DANIEL NASAW ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
The class winced as detective Todd Hurd showed a photograph of a gang member’s bullet-riddled corpse. "Have you ever banged your shin?" he asked the rapt audience of 26 gray-suited police recruits Friday morning in a dim, windowless lecture hall at the Little Rock Police Department training facility. "Multiply that by a thousand," he said, adding that the man was probably dead before he hit the ground.
Using a gallery of intelligence photos and video surveillance footage he’s gathered during a decade as the department’s gang intelligence expert, Hurd spent three hours teaching the recruits about the street gangs that run much of the city’s narcotics trade.
The training, which Hurd began offering recruits about three years ago, is intended to arm the patrolmen with the knowledge they need to help detectives solve gang-related crimes. He taught them to recognize and interpret gang tattoos and graffiti, showed video of men throwing up gang hand signals and offered tips for interviewing gang members.
While the gang situation isn’t as bad as it was in the mid-1990s, when Little Rock suffered a rash of gang killings, police are preparing for a crop of veteran gang members to be released from prison and for the ascendance of Hispanic and motorcycle gangs.
Hurd is the department’s sole gang expert, but patrolmen are the eyes and ears of the Police Department, and what they learn on the beat through encounters with citizens and while making arrests and traffic stops can assist him. Well-trained patrolmen can inform detectives about gang activity where a violent crime occurred, helping to determine a motive for a crime and recognize patterns. They know what’s going on in their districts and have sources of information they can tap to aid an detective’s investigation. They also can help detectives execute arrest warrants, because their knowledge of a neighborhood can help them find a suspect more quickly. "They are the ones familiar with what gangs control the area," said Capt. David Ebinger, commander of the Little Rock Police Department’s detective division.
Hurd estimates there are about 26 active criminal gangs in Little Rock, affiliated with some of the largest groups in the county — Bloods and Crips, Vice Lords and Gangster Disciples, the Surenos 13 Hispanic gang and Hells Angels and Bandidos motorcycle gangs.
Many support themselves by dealing crack cocaine and marijuana, Hurd said, although some deal in counterfeit currency and distribute bootlegged compact discs. "This is not West Side Story, where they’re out there dancing," he said. "This is a business." It’s a violent one.
These gangs are well armed, he said, even carrying AK-47-style assault rifles, found "a dime a dozen" in the drug houses police have hit. "Every year I go through this thing, and there are a couple guys that didn’t make it," he said, pointing out some of the men in a video taken during a gang party.
Hurd spoke at length about the tattoos gang members wear to demonstrate their allegiance. He urged the recruits to make detailed notes of the tattoos on police reports, rather than simply writing "numerous." "When you stop these guys, look at their necks, their calves," he said.
He took the recruits through the arcane gang slang and symbolism, noting that many use an alphanumeric code, in which a "3" represents a "c," for instance. Patrolmen should know that "3 rab Killaz" is code for Blood-affiliated gangsters, because "crab" is a derogatory term for a rival Crip. Under the same rules, Crips don’t like "ck" because it stands for "Crip Killer," hence the spelling of the "Nutty Blocc Crips" group’s name. The Vice Lords, a waning gang originally from Chicago, favor five-pointed stars, crescent moons and stylized martini glasses — the shape hinting at a V and an L.
A well-written report made after an arrest or a traffic stop, Hurd said, is an intelligence "land mine" that can later assist an investigation. A traffic stop can link a car’s passengers with the driver.
Hurd encouraged the recruits to begin developing informants their first day on the streets, noting that some of his best informants were people he arrested while on patrol. Gang members might tell police what rivals have done, he said, and shooting victims are often willing to talk, especially if they think they may die. But Hurd cautioned that wounded gang members planning to take revenge won’t want to talk to police. Gang members who’ve been victims of property crime may give police personal information, including their real home address.
Patrolmen have to learn how to discern the hard-core gangsters from the dilettantes. Treating a loosely affiliated youth like a hardened criminal will alienate him, but being too friendly with him in front of his friends will put him in an awkward situation. "It’s almost like learning etiquette," Ebinger said.
The climate in the Little Rock area has evolved since gangs first emerged here in the late 1980s. Gang members are less likely now to incite violence over turf or gang colors, because the boundaries of gang territories have stabilized.
They’re also less likely to advertise gang affiliation, said North Little Rock Detective B.T. Carmical, and that makes a patrolman’s job harder. "The old days of flagging are pretty much over," he said, referring to the gang hand signs members flash. "We have to look for other signs," like certain sports jerseys.
Hurd said that in the past gangs tended to be fixed to a particular street, but they’ve learned they can function more efficiently and with less threat from police and rivals by shifting their bases of operations. "As the gang situation has developed," he said, "we’ve got to develop, too."
This story was published Saturday, May 28, 2005
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