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Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Report raises questions about Minnesota gang member registries

Topic requested...Please click onto the COMMENTS for the story.

posted by Bob at Wednesday, December 02, 2009

3 Comments:

Anonymous Pioneer Press said...

Who's in the law enforcement databases, why?
By Mara H. Gottfried
mgottfried@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 12/01/2009 11:44:14 PM CST


Should there be a law enforcement database with nearly 14,000 names of people who may have hung out with gang members or been photographed with them but aren't confirmed gangsters themselves?

If someone is misidentified as a gang member, how can that person get removed from the list?

Should there be concern if gang databases disproportionately include people of color?

An independent report to be released today raises these concerns and more about two law enforcement databases: the Minnesota Gang Pointer File and GangNet. The University of St. Thomas School of Law's Community Justice Project, in collaboration with the St. Paul NAACP, completed the report.

Its recommendations include examining whether GangNet should be dismantled. That database, with about 16,500 names, is maintained by the Ramsey County sheriff's office and used by officers across the state.

Some of the report's other recommendations are worth considering, said Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, but he said GangNet should remain in existence.

"GangNet is a very valuable tool for law enforcement," he said Tuesday. "The entire system is incident based, so it's completely factual and reliable in its content."

The report is not seeking "to diminish concerns related to public safety," said Nekima Levy-Pounds, Community Justice Project director and a St. Thomas associate law professor. She emphasized that no one wants gang violence in his or her community.

"That being said, we have to make sure that the measures we use to ensure safety are fair to everyone and, to ensure accuracy, proper oversight and accountability," she said.

State Sen. Mee Moua, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she was briefed on the report.

"The information and recommendations contained in this report certainly compel those of us who are interested in government databases to want to ask more questions," she said.

Moua, DFL-St. Paul, said she hopes to have conversations and, if necessary, committee hearings before the start of the next legislative session.

"If it is determined that we need to look at legislative language to tighten up or address some of the areas of concerns raised by this report, we will do that," she said.

The report questions how much of a role the now-defunct Metro Gang Strike Force had in entering information into both GangNet and the Pointer File. It calls for a special audit of information entered by the task force.

State Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder, who sits on two public safety-related committees and is the Lake City police chief, said he thinks the problems of the Gang Strike Force didn't extend throughout the state. But Cornish said people are using them "as a soapbox to stand on and beat the drum for political purposes" while pushing for "unneeded legislation."

The report raises overall questions about GangNet and the Pointer File, including:


"Does being listed in the databases have adverse legal or social collateral consequences; especially for those who have been misidentified or are not active gang members?"

"(S)hould officers be required to 'get approval from a judge or magistrate before entering a name in a database?' "

10:17 AM  
Anonymous story continued said...

The Legislature established the Pointer File in 1997. That database, maintained by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, contained the names of 2,487 confirmed gang members as of last month.

The threshold to be entered into GangNet, which the Ramsey County sheriff's office started in 1998 with funding from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, is much lower than what's required for the Pointer File. But being in GangNet doesn't mean someone is a gang member, Fletcher said.

GangNet is "a repository of individual incidents," Fletcher said. He said the Pointer File couldn't exist without GangNet — GangNet is the place where information is compiled, so law enforcement knows when someone has met the threshold of being a confirmed gang member to be entered in the Pointer File, Fletcher said.

State Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion, like Fletcher, hadn't seen the report, but Campion's spokesman said "the public's trust in the system is critically important" to him and he will review the report's recommendations.

"We (the Public Safety Department) are committed to ensuring only accurate, verifiable information is put into the Gang Pointer File according to the established criteria," said spokesman Andy Skoogman.

Both databases use 10-point criteria to determine gang membership or affiliation. The report points out concerns voiced in community meetings, which began last summer in St. Paul.

"(A)re the criteria too subjective and/or repetitive?" the report asked. "More importantly, do the criteria disproportionately impact youth of color?"

The people in both databases are largely minorities: 55 percent in the Pointer File and 42 percent in GangNet were black, as of November 2008.

The report recommends that Minnesota's Gang and Drug Oversight Council, which established the 10-point criteria about a decade ago, review the criteria and "remove or tailor" them to "accurately identify gang members involved in criminal activity." It also suggests the review process include "organizations that have a positive rapport and credibility within communities of color."

Fletcher said the definitions of a gang member are always under review but added that "a healthy discussion" of the 10-point criteria would be valuable.

People entered into either database are not notified. The report suggests that people be notified, with an opportunity at a hearing to contest information. It puts special attention on the parents of juveniles being notified, especially as a way to stop a teen from joining a gang.

Fletcher has said people can ask the Ramsey County sheriff's office whether they're in GangNet and what information the office has. After an executive summary of the Community Justice Project report was circulated last month, Fletcher said his office formalized an appeals process that was already in place.

He also said it would a good idea to have a parental notification component.

10:18 AM  
Anonymous story conclusion said...

The report calls for specific guidelines around when names are purged from gang databases and says the 10 years that names are kept in GangNet (versus three years for the Pointer File) "are especially concerning."

Fletcher said he would consider amending the 10-year period to a shorter time frame, "but we'd have to have more discussion and research."

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.

ONLINE

To read the full report, go to TwinCities.com.

THE ABCS OF GANG INTELLIGENCE

After a state law in 1997 directed the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to create a database of gang members, the Gang and Drug Oversight Council came up with these criteria:


Admits gang membership or association.

Is observed to associate on a regular basis with known gang members.

Has tattoos indicating gang membership.

Wears gang symbols to identify with a specific gang.

Is in a photograph with known gang members and/or using gang-related hand signs.

Name is on a gang document, hit list or gang graffiti.

Is identified as a gang member by a reliable source.

Is arrested in the company of identified gang members or associates.

Corresponds with known gang members or writes and/or receives correspondence about gang activities.

Writes about gangs (graffiti) on walls, books and paper.
POINTER FILE

Criteria for police to enter a person in the Minnesota Gang Pointer File:


Meets three of the 10 criteria.

Is at least 14 years old.

Has been convicted of a felony or gross misdemeanor.
How is a name removed from the Pointer File?


If there are no new convictions or criteria in three years, the person's name is purged from the system.
GANGNET


The criteria for law enforcement to enter a person in GangNet:


Meets one of the 10 state criteria.

Is at least 14 years old.

Not required to have been convicted of a felony or gross misdemeanor.
How is a name removed from GangNet?

If there are no new convictions or criteria met in 10 years, the person's name is purged. If a person is gang-free for five years, he or she can ask the Ramsey County sheriff's office to remove the name.
WHO'S ON THE LISTS

10:18 AM  

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