To Fight Gangs Communities Have to Work Together
Meet your local gangbanger
Published June 26, 2006
Suburban police have been dealing with migrating Chicago gangs for some time now, so a report released last week by the Chicago Crime Commission that says the gangs continue to burrow into the 'burbs wasn't exactly surprising.
The most valuable message in the 272-page report was that the departments can't fight gangs as if they were street-corner thugs. In many cases, they are evolving into national operations with connections to lucrative white-collar crimes, such as mortgage scams. To fight them, suburban police need the type of gang intelligence that big-city police departments typically gather: who leads the gang, what it does and whether it's national or statewide."
The Gang Book," released by the crime commission, offers advice on how to improve anti-gang efforts in the suburbs.Almost half of the 81 suburbs surveyed by the commission said gang activity in their areas has gone up in the last three years. Most of that activity is still centered around drug dealing.
"The Gang Book" reports there are more than 125,000 gang members in metropolitan Chicago. The book is a who's who of suburban gang leaders, complete with mug shots.
Most important, the authors advise suburban police to figure out how to better share information about gangs with their peers across the state. There's a process for doing that now. Police departments send information to the Illinois CLEAR system, which tracks the activities of convicted gang members. But that network doesn't include photos of gang members, list their associates or describe their activities--all of which would help boost local anti-gang efforts.
"Territorial boundaries no longer control where a gang engages in criminal activities. They follow the money," said Jeannette Tamayo, general counsel for the commission. But, she said, local police are limited by jurisdiction.
Suburban police can't handle a national problem as if it were a local one. They need to be in the loop with the bigger police departments and national agencies that fight gangs. The information in "The Gang Book" helps them get there.
Published June 26, 2006
Suburban police have been dealing with migrating Chicago gangs for some time now, so a report released last week by the Chicago Crime Commission that says the gangs continue to burrow into the 'burbs wasn't exactly surprising.
The most valuable message in the 272-page report was that the departments can't fight gangs as if they were street-corner thugs. In many cases, they are evolving into national operations with connections to lucrative white-collar crimes, such as mortgage scams. To fight them, suburban police need the type of gang intelligence that big-city police departments typically gather: who leads the gang, what it does and whether it's national or statewide."The Gang Book," released by the crime commission, offers advice on how to improve anti-gang efforts in the suburbs.Almost half of the 81 suburbs surveyed by the commission said gang activity in their areas has gone up in the last three years. Most of that activity is still centered around drug dealing.
"The Gang Book" reports there are more than 125,000 gang members in metropolitan Chicago. The book is a who's who of suburban gang leaders, complete with mug shots.
Most important, the authors advise suburban police to figure out how to better share information about gangs with their peers across the state. There's a process for doing that now. Police departments send information to the Illinois CLEAR system, which tracks the activities of convicted gang members. But that network doesn't include photos of gang members, list their associates or describe their activities--all of which would help boost local anti-gang efforts.
"Territorial boundaries no longer control where a gang engages in criminal activities. They follow the money," said Jeannette Tamayo, general counsel for the commission. But, she said, local police are limited by jurisdiction.
Suburban police can't handle a national problem as if it were a local one. They need to be in the loop with the bigger police departments and national agencies that fight gangs. The information in "The Gang Book" helps them get there.
posted by Braye Cloud at
8:45 AM
1 Comments:
make a new law hey they think there bad a**es give them 10 for being a gang member and they want to be a gang member when they get out give them 25 to life we all know felons only get 3 strikes well i only have one but i have straightened my life out but i only get 2 more chances that's bullsh*t
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