Research on Gang Membership

An examination of the patrol officer’s jobs and duties took place. The gathering of information and interviewing a seasoned patrol offer assisted in this examination. The city in which the patrol officer works is also studied. Research of the city of Hueytown’s population and history helped to understand the demographics and crime within the city. While Hueytown’s violent crimes are low, thefts and burglaries rank the highest. Communities, including the city of Hueytown, place patrol officers on the streets in order to protect and serve. Officer Louis Phillips, Jr. gave an interview that takes an in depth look at his journey as a patrol officer.

The American headlines of any large city will site killings on street corners, robberies, assaults, intimidation, and drug interaction. While not all-criminal activity is associated with gangs, the 780,000 strong members do account for a large majority of the problems that are plaguing America. There is no one-way to stop gang activity in one single swipe, but through a combination of cooperation, education, and training techniques law enforcement can minimize the gang’s movements and even stop a crime before it is committed.

Chapter one goes over the history of a gang, with California in the 1980’s being the root in the gang problem in the United States. With 280 known gangs, consisting of 26,000 active members, its no surprise why the murder rate went from 200 to 800 homicides per year. The LAPD CRASH unit officers pioneered tactics, raid techniques, and interventions in gang infested areas. Their harsh and sometimes illegal activity set the bar on how to handle a gang problem in a major city. Research showed that in today’s gang problem, gangs are fighting a deadly game of cat and mouse with police. They have their hands on serious weapons, and fight each other nonstop, for territory and drug sales. Much of this chapter discusses research that would help police to move from media sources to

“The model rests on three principles: (1) adaptability to a variety of gang-related problems and a variety of jurisdictions; (2) flexibility; and (3) the use of a multifaceted approach by government, private agencies, and community participation. Central features of the model are its focus on harmful behaviors, continuous diagnosis of problems, coordination of responses, performance monitoring, impact evaluation, and adaptation to change.” (Office of Justice Programs, n.d.). This focuses on the youth gangs and bringing the gang to their attention. Getting to know the gang, their tactics, and approaches would help with understanding their ways of violence, how they use it, where, and why. Many of the violence in gangs are for honor, revenge, courage, and prestige. This model uses a four-stage problem solving technique that focuses on why problems are persisting within the

There are many overlapping themes and ideas present within the research report and the textbook. One main idea that was present in both documents, was the cultural aspect of gang integration. In both the textbook and in the research report, culture is intrinsically linked to gang involvement, as often times the culture that an individual practices will impact their standing within a gang. Furthermore, culture binds people together, which also happens when an individual joins a gang of like-minded and culturally similar others. Another area that was discussed in both documents, was how gang activity is related to school. In the textbook, school and other educational and institutional systems either excluded youth, or were simply not attended

A mixture of different ethnic groups based on social disorganization theory can be a factor for gang involvement. As stated above immigrant children have a harder adjustment to the education in Canada, simply because they don’t understand English and don’t speak English at home. In high school there are often a mixture of different ethnic groups, and usually the same group of people attract each other. Hence, when immigrants who are new to the country and are doing poorly in school, have a higher chance of joining a gang.

The manner in which police departments across the United States choose to conduct patrol of their cities varies greatly. Although crime trends vary in regards to place and time there are various ways to structure patrol so that it is more effective and efficient for departments. This is ultimately reflected in safer neighborhoods characterized by having a strong citizen perception of police legitimacy. While patrol has been the cornerstone of policing in the United States, as it is the main approach of providing police resources to communities, recent research has made agencies across the nation aware of shortfalls associated with traditional methods of patrol (Sherman & Weisburd, 1995). Activities patrol officers partake in during their shifts

Community oriented policing is the proactive deployment method used by patrol officers in order to find solutions to why crime is occurring within a given community. Officers use their critical thinking and problem solving skills to analyze and uncover the underlying issues of a community that are posing threats to public safety and address ways this can be prevented. In many communities throughout the United States, police officers strive to build better relationships with community members, yet building relationships with youth within a community, especially a community over run by gangs, crime and drugs is a much tougher issue. These juveniles are at higher risk for entering into the juvenile justice system based on the many risk

For my practicum, the agency I am involved with is the East Pikeland Township Police Department. This police department serves the Kimberton area which is adjacent to Phoenixville. Police officers have a variety of responsibilities to maintain while on duty. Their primary responsibility is to maintain peace and order within the community they are serving (DeLisi, 2010). With the important responsibilities that a police department possesses, it plays a vital role in the criminal justice system.

A group that I would consider to be deviant are the people who are gang members. Kerig, P. K., Wainryb, C., Twali, M. S., & Chaplo, S. D. (2013) states that there are, “756,000 gang members across the United States” (p. 774). Gangs are made up of people of different races, ages, religions, and geographic locations. According to Toller (2014) gangs can sometimes be identified by their names, clothes, and/ or hands signs they display (p. 3). Gang members are typically between the ages of 12 to 24 but there are members that are well over the age of 24 (Toller, 2014, p. 3). Toller (2014) discusses the involvement of gangs in crimes ranging from minor offenses such as graffiti to crimes such as murder (p. 4). With the offense that gangs have committed

Youth gangs and the violence around them has grown in America. The gang related crimes committed by these youth gangs has risen and the age of these members had dropped. The youth are turning to the gang life at a younger age than ever before. In this essay I will dive into the different geographic types and their youth gangs. We will also take a look at age, gender, and the race of these gang members. Gang related crimes and local gang violence factors will also be discussed in this essay.

Gang members is a peer network that attracts our youth in their teenage years (Howell and Egley 2005). Also, gangs are described as a group that interacts in their neighborhood or school wearing a particular colors or clothes and control and protect a territory or turf from rival gangs through fighting or threats. Also, in an economic restructure area, the undereducated and underemployed environment will most likely leave the younger generation to gravitate toward engaging in the family of gang membership. However, some gang membership comes from bloodline affiliation from family members or caregiver, therefore gang stability come from the involvement older, deeply embedded, and highly criminal gang member(e.g., Sanchez-Jankowski 1991; Venkatesh

During my tenure as a sworn peace officer, I have been assigned to a patrol division for approximately six years. I have had the opportunity to work patrol in the neighborhoods of all social classes. I have worked patrol in very high gang involved neighborhoods; I have worked patrol in the neighborhoods

Have you thought about gangs and why people join. Some say that they are substitut families and other think that’s a myth but can tell you what two people think. Jeremy Wallace states that they are because most come from broken families also he lives near gang territories in his hometown and is a priest. Dr.Samenow states that gangs being a substitute is a myth because if that was the case gangs would be overflowing also gangs resemble families meaning that they aren't real families. But I think that they are because all people need love from someone so gangs are the way to go because they can be treated like family since a small amount of teens but still need someone for a sub family.

Detective King has done a commendable job immersing himself in the culture of gang investigations. He has maintained a positive attitude and has experienced success with his efforts where gang investigations are concerned. Detective King has become familiar with the most active and well-known local gang members. He has taken an aggressive approach to enjoining new gang members to the WVL gang injunction. Detective King has facilitated training for patrol personnel regarding the WVL gang injunction. An example