NCJ Number
198950
Journal
FBI Law Enforcment Bulletin Volume: 72 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2003 Pages: 7-11
Editor(s)
John E. Ott
Date Published
February 2003
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the fact that without a clear definition for youth gangs that differentiates them from other troublesome youth groups and adult criminal organizations, it is difficult to combat them.
Abstract
The author serves with the Police Department in Aurora, Illinois, and proposes that defining "youth gang" as a person or activity that meets the definitions for a criminal gang, criminal gang member/associate, or gang-involved crime as defined by the gang-involved crime report are essential to combating their existence. With clear definitions in place, he recommends a model policy based on identification of gang crime and gang members as they are associated with criminal street gangs, criminal motorcycle gangs, criminal hate groups, criminal extremist groups, and other such groups. Reporting procedures and instructions are detailed for incident reports leading to crime suppression operations planning by patrol and special operations supervisors. Information sharing procedures are described including analysis of crime-occurrence mapping, crime statistics, crime patterns and trends, police resource allocation, and community policing direction. Some legal issues are discussed with emphasis on keeping within the applicable laws and procedures in collecting, documenting, analyzing, and distributing information. In conclusion, it is again emphasized that a model policy that includes a clear definition of a criminal gang, and incorporates a broad range of criteria to classify gang members and gang-involved crime can lead to better understanding of the scope of gang crime and an ability to focus resources on this growing menace.