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AGENCY TESTIMONY
Contents and uses of the criminal group database
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Michael Gerber provides a detailed explanation of the contents and uses of the criminal group database, emphasizing its role in preventing and investigating gang-related violence.
- Database contains information on criminal group names, membership, associated incidents, geographic data, and intergroup rivalries
- Helps identify trends and patterns in gang activity, assisting in interrupting cycles of violence
- Enables quick identification of gang affiliations in shooting cases, aiding in solving crimes and preventing retaliatory violence
Michael Gerber
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NYPD investigators.
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It contains criminal group names, membership, associated incidents, geographic data, and intergroup rivalries and relationships.
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By consolidating this information, investigators and executives can identify trends and patterns involving gang activity.
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This information helps the department interrupt cycles of violence and prevent acts of violent retaliation.
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In particular, when an individual is shot or killed, the database allows us to immediately identify whether that person is part of a gang.
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That raises the possibility that the shooting is gang motivated.
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This intelligence assists the investigators working to solve the crime, and even more important, helps us prevent retaliatory violence.
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One of the many tragedies of gang related shootings is that one shooting leads to a retaliatory shooting, which in turn leads to another shooting, a cycle of violence that feeds on itself.
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The key to preventing that cycle of violence is having accurate, immediate intelligence regarding gang membership, location, and rivalries, realizing when gang violence is about to spiral, and intervening quickly to prevent it.
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If we know from the database that a shooting victim is a gang member, the identities of rival gang members, and where those gangs are based, we can immediately deploy officers in a way that will help that will help prevent retaliatory shootings.
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Do we always succeed in that effort?
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No.
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But sometimes, thanks to the database and the hard work of our officers, we do.
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Those successes are lives saved, often the lives of young people who would otherwise have become shooting victims.