project 3: Problem-Solving StrategiesProposed Establishment of Task Force

Project 3 Instructions and Materials

Assignment Instructions. The student is the Police Chief, top administrator. Given the previous intelligence reports (See Appendix 1 below) and proposed Gang Task Force Plan (See Appendix 2 below), the student acting as the Police Chief, will create Problem Solving Implementation Plan. Student can add or redirect resources or use different approaches than the original plan. This Plan will be based on an Intelligence-led policing model but must include LE Problem Solving Strategies.

The Plan will include the following:

1. Police Problem Solving strategies to be used. Explain the strategy in relation to the situation. E.g POPS, COPS, SARA, CompStat etc
2.  Identify the departmental and interagency resources which will be used to support the plan
3. Jurisdictional issues: Explain how the Gang Task Force will coordinate and operate in other jurisdictions.
4. Develop an organizational chart for the Gang Task Force explaining the function of each position
5. Identify level of experience of Gang Task Force members and other professional requirements.
6. Develop concept of operation. 
7. Intelligence Operations and LE Networks to be used
8. How will the Gang Task Force Sharing information. With what agencies?
9. How will the Gang Task Force coordinate with other agencies?
10. How will the Gang Task Force handling of investigative records and intelligence reports?
11. What type of training is required for Gang Task Force members?
12. What will be the focus of Community outreach?
13. What risks will be involved and how can they be mitigated?

Primary Reference:

• Global Information Sharing Tool Kit: Global’s Library of Resources. Guidelines for Establishing and Operating Gang Intelligence Units and Task Forces https://www.it.ojp.gov/GIST/99/Guidelines-for-Establishing-and-Operating-Gang-Intelligence-Units-and-Task-ForcesMaryland Gang 2012 Threat Assessment http://www.mcac.maryland.gov/resources/2012%20PUBLIC%20Gang%20Threat%20Assessment.pdf

Student Resources: 

• Global Information Sharing Tool Kit: Global’s Library of Resources https://it.ojp.gov/gist/Search?Tag_28=onFact Sheet: ICE Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ACCESS) http://www.ice.gov/news/library/factsheets/access.htmSan Jose, CA: The Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force (MGPTF) 2008-2013 Strategic Work Plan https://sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1358

Appendix 1

Intelligence Summary

Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, is involved in the human trafficking of young Central American teenage girls for the purpose of conducting prostitution operations in Maryland.  Confirmed police reporting [1] from adjacent county police departments show a significant increase in the number of arrests of Latin teenage girls for prostitution. Inquiries to ICE [2] confirmed the girls were undocumented aliens likely smuggled across the Mexican border into Arizona and transported to Maryland. According to a Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center assessment [3] MS-13 gangs operating in Maryland counties around Baltimore are forcing teenage girls, ranging in ages from 15 to 17, into prostitution. According to county police investigators, [4] the girls arrested are unwilling to cooperate with LE or testify against the gang members out of fear for their lives and their families in El Salvador. Gang members supplied the victims with drugs and alcohol to keep them compliant. The FBI’s MS-13 National Gang Task Force [5] reported that an employment website in Central American has offered domestic employment in the United States for $5,000. According the Task Force report, the teenage girls are transported through Mexico to the US-Mexican border by MS-13 members. The El Salvador FBI Legal Attaché [6] reported the employment company is run by man with ties to MS-13. According to the FBI Legal attaché El Salvadoran intelligence claims the man is related to an MS-13 gang leader in a Maryland clique but local law enforcement investigators have not been able to confirm this report. Similar cases have occurred in Northern Virginia, according to the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force.

Assessment: We assess with moderate confidence based on the pattern of arrests occurring in neighboring counties that MS-13 will likely expand its human trafficking and teenage prostitution operations into X City. MS-13 members are mostly Salvadoran nationals or first-generation Salvadoran-Americans, but members also include Hondurans, Guatemalans, Mexicans, and other Central and South American immigrants. MS-13 members have concentrated in regions in Northern Virginia and Maryland where there is a higher density of residents of Central America origin. Recent demographic studies indicated an increase of US persons of Central American heritage residing in the surrounding counties. This supports our assessment that MS-13 criminal activity will likely increase in the Big City and the surrounding Green, Red, and Blue counties.

 

[1] Summary of Green, Blue and Red County Statistical Reporting, dated xx/xx/20xx (U)

[2] Response to RFI to ICE, dated xx/xx/20xx (U)

[3] Annual Maryland Gang Assessment, dated xx/xx/20xx (U)

[4] Telephone conversation with County Investigator, dated xx/xx/20xx (U)

[5] FBI’s MS-13 National Gang Task Force Monthly Intelligence Summary, dated xx/xx/20xx (U)

[6] FBI Legal Attaché Redacted Report provided by FBI Liaison, dated xx/xx/20xx (U)

Appendix 2

Proposed Establishment of Task Force

Recommendation:  The Big City Police Department’s Operations Branch proposes the establishment of a Gang Task Force to coordinate a regional response to the growing MS-13 criminal problem involving the teenage prostitution. 

Task Force Model: Establish a regional MS-13 Gang Task Force with County and State Police to identify and prevent the emergence of MS-13 human trafficking and prostitution operations in the greater Big City Metro Area.

Task Force Participants: State Troopers, County Police and Big City Departmental assets.

Task Force Mission: To prevent, intervene, and suppress MS-13 criminal activity in the Big City metro area.

Task Force Design:

• Task Force Commander
• Operations Officer
• MS-13 Gang intelligence Unit with two Surveillance Teams and analytical section (2 analysts)
• Four Investigative Teams (two members each team, senior detectives) (8)
• County Police Liaison (3)

Concept of Operation: Our surveillance teams will establish an uncover presence in areas with a high concentration of Central American immigrants to identify gang members working and living in the community. The undercover officers will integrate themselves in to the community, go to restaurants, bars and public places to observe, listen and report on suspicious activities similar to intelligence operations conducting by NYPD. Our analytical team will develop a demographic map of the area and identify gang indicators and boundaries. Our investigative teams will work all potential gang related activity in the community and make it clear to gang leaders that we will not tolerate an expansion of MS-13 gang activity in our area. We will closely work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify illegal criminal aliens for arrest and deportation.

Regional Task Force Goals

1. Mobilize community leaders to collaborate and cooperate in local strategy planning and implementation.
2. Network and coordinate regular communication between State and Local LE.
3. Share community resource information and assess best practices.
4. Work to improve the collection and sharing of gang intelligence data among the law enforcement agencies within regions and around the state.
5. Oversee the collection of data necessary to measure progress in the strategy.
6. Act as a liaison between local community components and the Office of the Attorney General and the Coordinating Council on Criminal Gang Reduction Strategies in the exchange of information related to the Gang Reduction Strategy

 Task Force Intelligence Operations

1. Establish an intelligence file database and management system in accordance with CFR Code of Federal Regulations, Title 28 – Judicial Administration, Chapter 1- Department of Justice, Part 23 – Criminal Intelligence System Operating Policies.

Student References

1. Audit Checklist for the Criminal Intelligence Function http://it.ojp.gov/documents/LEIU_audit_checklist.pdf
2. Law Enforcement Analytic Standards (2^nd End) https://it.ojp.gov/docdownloader.aspx?ddid=1151
3. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 28 – Judicial Administration, Chapter 1-Department of Justice, Part 23 – Criminal Intelligence System Operating Policies http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/part-23