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AGENCY TESTIMONY
Recent changes and improvements to the criminal group database policies
0:21:21
ยท
3 min
Michael Gerber details recent changes and improvements made to the criminal group database policies following a DOI investigation and report.
- Stricter criteria for adding individuals to the database, requiring admission of gang membership or identification by two independent sources
- Implementation of automatic review processes: every three years for adults, every two years for juveniles
- Specific criteria for removal from the database, making it easier to be removed
- Since 2023, 682 people were added to the database while 3,192 were removed, a ratio of 4.5 removals to 1 addition
Michael Gerber
0:21:21
In 2023, following a multiyear investigation, DOI issued a comprehensive report regarding the database.
0:21:29
The report found no evidence that inclusion in the database caused harm to any individual or group of individuals and did not identify a relationship between inclusion in the database and any individual adverse outcomes.
0:21:44
At the same time, DOI made various suggestions for how the department could improve its procedures relating to the database.
0:21:53
We have taken the majority of DOI's recommendations, and in several instances, we have made changes that go well beyond those recommendations.
0:22:03
It is now much harder for someone to be added to the database.
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It used to be that someone could be added to the database based on a combination of factors such as presence at known gang location or association with gang members.
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That has been eliminated.
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If a detective proposes adding someone to the database on those grounds, the proposal will be rejected.
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Instead, an individual can only be added to the database if that person has admitted to gang membership either in speaking with law enforcement or through the person's own social media posts, or if over the course of an investigation detectives believe that individual is a member of a criminal group and two independent and reliable sources have identified that person as a member of the group.
0:22:52
Moreover, these grounds for inclusion in the database must be documented.
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If there is insufficient documentation, the individual will not be included in the database.
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This strict requirement enables effective supervisory oversight both through multiple layers of supervisory review and DOI's ability to audit entries in the database for compliance with our policies.
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We have also dramatically revised the rules for removing people from the database.
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There is an automatic review process.
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For adults, it is every three years, and for juveniles, it is every two years.
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A person can only remain in the database if that person has been arrested for a violent crime, weapons possession, or a crime in furtherance of the criminal group, is on parole or probation, or is in jail or prison.
0:23:45
If none of these criteria are satisfied, the person must be removed from the database.
0:23:52
In short, since 2023, we have made it much more difficult to add someone to the database and much harder to keep someone in the database, and the data reflect this shift.
0:24:05
Over the last two years, six hundred and eighty two people were added to the database while 3,192 people were removed.
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The ratio of removal removals to additions is four and a half to one.
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None of this is to say that our practices and policies involving the database are perfect.
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We always seek to improve and are open to changes.