NCJ Number
77300
Date Published
1979
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This report, which is part of a 1978 assessment of organized crime in California, focuses on organized burglars and fences, narcotics smuggling, fraudulent identification, and U.S.-Mexican border crimes.
Abstract
The State's Department of Justice (DOJ) has developed multijurisdictional counter-strategies to deal with organized criminal fencing and burglary. The department has assisted local law enforcement agencies in conducting unannounced, onsite inspections of pawnshops; has developed a strategy of comparing business machine repair records with those in the Automated Property System to locate stolen business machines; is establishing an automated system for storing information on cargo theft items; and has organized 18 local swap meet task forces in an effort to locate stolen property stolen at swap meets. In addition, the department has coordinated four multijurisdictional investigations of scrap metal and junk dealers who accept stolen, metal items. Narcotics smuggling by air and sea is a serious problem in the State. In 1978, six vessel-smuggling investigations resulted in the seizure of over 95,000 pounds of marijuana. Cocaine, phencyclidine (PCP), and heroin are other drugs commonly bought in the State. In the area of fraudulent identification, the California Department of Justice Fraudulent Identification Task Force made recommendations on controlling access to breeder documents -- documents which are commonly accepted as valid sources for establishing identity. A thumb or fingerprint and a full-face photograph were recommended for driver's licenses; and recommended penal code revisions would make the use of false names on birth certificates or driver's licenses a crime of forgery. The Mafia type of organized crime is considered minimal in the area of border crimes. Small, loosely structured, and temporary criminal organizations are sometimes involved in smuggling stolen vehicles, narcotics, and illegal aliens. A list of recommendations from the April 1977 Border Crime Conference in San Diego is included.