What is your problem?

by Derrick R. Crews, ICPS

Gang activity is a hot topic facing school resource officers. In our rush to combat the problem, we tend to forget one of the basic elements needed to create a solid prevention plan. This necessary element is simply to define your problem. While seemingly insignificant, without clearly defining your problem, you cannot solve it.

The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) tells us time and again, “It is wise…to define a problem adequately before adopting a response strategy…, especially in the sphere of street gangs.” Defining gangs and gang activity doesn’t have to be difficult. In addition to state gang associations or school policies that define gangs and gang activity, thirty-seven states have legislation defining the activity. Don’t reinvent the wheel. You may need to customize the definition to fit your needs. Remember, the more specific you make your prevention plan, the better off you are.

Having a definition can help prevention plans in many ways. Here are some examples.

1. Staff should have your basic understanding of what a gang is, what gang activity can encompass, and what behavior is unacceptable. This will help unite the overall efforts to stop gang activity.

2. Enforcing school rules can be applied more fairly and should be consistent across the entire student population.

3. Students should be advised what behavior is recognized as gang related. Once informed, they are responsible for their actions and the consequences.

4. When gang related disciplinary actions need to be taken, you can readily justify your response based on the definition of the problem.

Clear definitions may not be the magic element to your prevention plan but most successful programs have clearly defined problems. This allows you to build effective strategies to address the issue.

Derrick Crews is a police trainer and instructor with 15 years of experience. He has supervised many crime prevention programs and organized several safety initiatives. If you would like to learn more, read Street Gangs and Interventions and Crime Analysis for Problem Solvers in 60 Small Steps.

Editor’s Note: Continuing on the topic of gangs, following are tips for gaining cooperation from victims of Asian Gangs taken from Street Survival Newsline coverage of a special gang conference.

If you have even a small Asian population in your community, pay attention to this. You either already have Asian gangs or they’re on the way, says Long Beach (CA) PD gang investigator Norman Sorenson, who at the time of the original publication of this piece was also Vice President of the California Gang Investigator’s Assn. “Wherever there is an Asian population, there are definitely Asian gangs!”

Pinpointing and controlling Asian gangs is a unique and often difficult process. They typically prey on their own...and their victims don’t talk about it. According to Sorenson, at least 90% of crimes against Asians go unreported. “They’re afraid to call the police. In their home countries, the police are usually the bad guys. They just don’t understand that our law officers are different from those they’re used to,” Sorenson told the Street Survival Newsline.

For example, according to guidelines for dealing with Asian gangs developed by the San Jose (CA) PD, many Asians consider bail a form of bribery. When a criminal is seen walking the street shortly after being arrested, many Asians believe he has bribed the police and is now free to seek retaliation against the person who turned him in. “With that belief in mind,” says Sorenson, “it’s a whole lot safer to not say anything and just forget the whole incident.”

Without information from the victims and witnesses, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to even find out that a crime has occurred let alone get to the offenders. Here are some suggestions for bettering your odds of being contacted and getting the information you need when Asian gangs strike :

1. Get to know the local Asian businessmen. They are often the victims of extortion by these gangs but they rarely report it for fear their businesses will be destroyed or worse yet, their families will be harmed. “The Asian gang extortionists,” says Sorenson, “do heavy research on the business owners. When the time comes to put the squeeze on them, they’ve got the guy’s license plate number, home address, family members’ names, routes they and their family members walk or drive...they’ve got just about everything. Many times, they make friends with the kids before they present the extortion demand and glean personal information on the family from them.” It’s hard to go against someone who knows and threatens everything you’ve got.

If you take time to get to know them, they will be more apt to report crimes and share information. “If you’ve got Asian restaurants in your area, take your lunches there. If there are local Asian Businessmen’s Association meetings, ask if you can attend. Be friendly...smile a lot.” says Sorenson. “Once you’ve developed a friendly relationship, start asking questions about their culture...then start explaining ours. Hopefully, they’ll develop trust in you and look to you for help.” In turn, they’ll be helping you.

2. Initiate and participate in community relations meetings. Work to bridge the cultural gap and open the lines of trust and communication.

3. Volunteer to speak to school children. Start developing trust and understanding at an early age.

4. Do something as simple as teaching the elderly or the young how to dial 911. They just might use it if an Asian gang crime is in progress.

5. Finally, learn all you can about their culture and use that knowledge to strengthen your position. For example, if you’re entering an Asian household to attempt to gain information from the witness to a crime, look to see if there are shoes just outside or just inside the door. If there are...take yours off. “You’ll score A LOT of points by doing that,” says Sorenson. “It’s a matter of respect in their culture.” Then greet the eldest male first and ask his permission to speak to the person you’re looking for. This will go a long way towards gaining cooperation from the rest of the family.

“Many officers are going to say, “Why should I go to all this trouble to get information from victims who don’t want to talk? I’ve got a whole load of others who are just raring to share the intimate details of their ordeals? I don’t need to go looking for work!”, observes Sorenson. “Well, if they don’t get a jump on it now and start getting the information they’re going to need to control the Asian gangs, they’re going to be working 100 times as hard when the problem takes over...and it WILL take over...mark my words!”

SAFETY TIP: One of the characteristics unique to Asian gangs is their propensity to travel long distances to commit their crimes. And when they travel, they travel heavily armed. If you make a traffic stop on a car load of young Asians...be very cautious and stay alert!

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