NCJ Number
142653
Date Published
1992
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Florida's Tenth Statewide Grand Jury began hearing testimony and viewing evidence regarding Florida's gang problems in August 1991; the objective of this interim report is to identify the magnitude of the gang problem in Florida and determine how law enforcement is reacting to it in terms of documentation and intelligence gathering techniques.
Abstract
Based on recent assessments by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there are in excess of 10,000 documented gang members or associates and over 159 identified gangs in the State. The majority of gangs have committed crimes as serious as "drive-by" shootings. This report presents a representative sample of the statistics on gangs from Florida's five regions. Currently, no central repository exists for the collection and exchange of information on gangs and gang activity. This report recommends the establishment of a statewide youth and street gang computer database accompanied by mandatory reporting from all law enforcement agencies in the State. Such reporting would facilitate accurate acounting of gang members and uniform enforcement of the Florida Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act. The use of such a database would require that all police report forms have an information block where the initial officer on the scene or the investigating officer indicates whether or not the crime was gang-related, whether or not a gang member was involved, and whether or not the offender is a gang member. The report also recommends that police academies provide instruction on the identification of gangs and gang-related activity.