It works like gangbusters
Police hail software that played role in Rexdale arrests Tattoos, vehicles, slang, nicknames at click of mouse
When police in Toronto and Peel want the goods on a street gang member, they turn to GangNet, a computer-based system that identifies and tracks gang members by recording everything from their hair colour and tattoos to their nicknames, prior arrests and style of slang.
That information is culled by front- line officers and entered into the database, which originated in California, where there is huge gang problem in Los Angeles.
Police investigating gang-related crimes can access biographical data such as age, height and markings and can link gang members to vehicles, locations, field interviews and affiliates — gang- related intelligence law enforcement agencies can share. The software generates gang rosters as well as statistical reports with a click of a mouse. It has a built- in gang- related slang dictionary — a Cuz, for instance, refers to a member of the Crips gang. The software also includes mapping and facial recognition functions that allow users to plot gang activity that is complicated by gang members’ mobility.
“ It is a very useful system,” said Craig Platt, a spokesperson with the Peel Region police. “ If we take intelligence-based information from someone that we speak to on patrol, that information is put on a contact card and that gets inputted if it’s gangrelated,” he said yesterday. Law enforcement officials are reluctant to go into detail, but the software played an important role in the probe leading to the recent Project Flicker sweep that rounded up 40 suspected members of the Ardwick Blood Crew in Rexdale. Bail hearings are continuing in a Finch Ave. courthouse. Before that, the computer database was used by Toronto investigators during the Impact and Pathfinder projects, which resulted in the arrests of dozens of alleged members of Scarborough street gangs Malvern Crew and Galloway Boys. The subjects of the Pathfinder probe, which targeted the Galloway Boys, are currently before the courts under tight security in an east- end courthouse.
“ It’s like trying to keep in touch with a network. For example, you’re trying to map out a network, like any other organization, any other enterprise,” said Det.-Const. Keith Addison of the Toronto Police Service’s gun and gang task force.
“ You have what we consider the gang leaders, which would be your board of directors in any organization, then you have your generals, and soldiers and you want to see who’s affiliated with who and who’s dealing with what areas and who’s associated with you.” A former FBI agent working for a high- tech company developed the original intelligence software in 1997 for the California Department of Justice. Cal/ Gang, the version inside California, is accessed by more than 6,000 law enforcement officers in 58 counties.
“ It’s very effective,” said Tony Moreno, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department and author of the book Lessons from a Gang Cop. He does formal training on gangs in the United States and Canada and last year addressed the Toronto gun and gang task force conference.
“ The key thing that makes it work is that people who are put in the system are verified to be gang members. It also tells how they were verified to be gang members so you just don’t grab some kid in baggy clothes and throw him in there.”
Aset of criteria is used for verification, he explained, such as “self-admittance, tattoos, involved in activity, arrests with gang members.”
“ It solves crimes like you wouldn’t believe,” he said in a telephone interview yesterday from his patrol car while on surveillance in South Central L. A.
“ If somebody is identified in a drive- by shooting, for instance, and there are three people in the car and everybody identifies one person in the car, they know his face. If he’s in the database there’s a good chance people he associates with, his good friends, his fellow gang members, even the car in question, is in the database, you have a place to go look.”
GangNet, the version outside California, has more than 2 million records on an estimated 400,000 gang members. It’s not known how many are Canadianbased.
According to Toronto police, there are 216 gangs with more than 3,000 members in Ontario, and Toronto has 73 of those gangs with more than 2,000 members. In 2002, it was estimated there were 731,500 gang members throughout the U. S. that formed nearly 21,500 gangs.
Street gangs are fluid in nature, and while it can be relatively easy to develop intelligence about them, that information can become quickly outdated. Toronto has two police officers designated to keep on top of developments.
There is a silver lining, however, said Addison. “ These people haven’t been arrested just one time. They’re usually arrested over and over and over again and as they change they get printed, and photographs are taken of them and that’s updated on the system.”
In addition to this high-tech tool, law enforcement agencies, including Toronto police, have pursued an increasingly pro-active approach to youth gangs, including surveillance, stakeouts, wiretaps, aggressive patrol and arrest, followup investigations, intelligence gathering, coupled with prevention and community relations activities.