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The Department of Justice defines community polic-ing as “a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the systematic use of part-nerships and problem-solving techniques, to pro-

actively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime” and indicates that it is comprised of three primary elements: community partnerships, organizational transfor-mation and problem solving.

Neither within this definition nor within these primary components is a strategy described. Instead, community policing outlines an organizational philosophy within which specific strategies must be developed. The goal, then, is to create a specific counter-gang strategy that remains faithful to the philosophy of community policing and delivers results.

Counter-Gang StrategyCreate and adhere to a mission statement: Although most law enforcement agencies have a mission statement, this second mission statement serves the counter-gang strategy specifically and must align with the mission statement to retain strategic focus.

Locate and establish relationships with trusted community leaders: We must actively seek out trusted community leaders (TCLs) and develop these people as intel-ligence assets. The TCLs not only work directly with law enforcement but are also expected to win the support of the larger community. In return law enforcement must actively work with the TCLs to assist them with local community-issue resolution. This increases both parties’ legitimacy.

TCLs recruit local “street leaders”: TCLs should be expected to recruit street leaders—people known and trusted by them and suggested to law enforcement for coop-eration. After vetting, the street leader can provide informa-tion covertly to law enforcement. Whereas the TCLs serve as a public liaison between the agency and the community, the street leader acts more as a confidential informant.

Develop local intelligence gathering and process-ing capabilities: Every local police station should have one officer specifically trained in intelligence collection and processing. This officer is responsible for collecting local

information, processing it locally, preparing detailed reports that include suggested operations based on that intelli-gence, maintaining a local intelligence file, communicating the intelligence picture regularly to the local commander and command staff, participating in local search war-rants, attending post-arrest debriefings of any significant arrest-ees and providing some measure of information recognition and collection training to other officers.

The intelligence officer must be out on the street engaged in regular operations. This puts this officer in direct con-tact with information sources on a daily basis and allows all operations to be witnessed and evaluated firsthand. The ability to accurately frame the intelligence picture and make proper assessments depends on this officer having the proper context.

Use questions-based organizational analysis at the street level: I discussed a questions-based organizational analysis model at length in the April 2013 edition of Law Officer. Questions-based organizational analysis allows law enforcement to develop a specific understanding of each organization. With this in-depth understanding, operations are not only more efficient but are also most effective.

A questions-based organizational analysis framework is replicable and should be conducted with regularity within the same organization.

Use social network analysis to identify and target criminals: A social network is, simply, the series of relation-ships individuals have with each other. This is different than social media, which is a virtual platform within which people interact. Persons interacting via social media create a social network, but social networks do not require social media.

A police department and the officers within it are a social network, as are street gangs. The key to understanding and mapping these networks is discovering and mapping rela-tionships. Social network analysis (SNA) software gener-ates a web-like graph that shows links people have with one another. Individuals may be viewed as either links to one another, links to locations or links to specific groups. Once network members with high connectivity or who facilitate connectivity between groups are identified, operations can be focused upon their removal, severing critical connections

Counter-Gangpart 2

By John A. Bertetto

Fusing community policing & intelligence-led policing

Strategy

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and fracturing the network. SNA software should also pos-sess dynamic network analysis, and geospatial and spatial-temporal analysis capabilities. (For more on SNA in polic-ing, see the sidebar, below.)

Intelligence drives operations: Relationships with the community are enhanced via selective targeting and apprehension of verified criminal actors. The need to con-duct large street sweeps, raids and vehicle checkpoint-style operations that alienate community members from law enforcement are decreased over time as the overall intel-ligence picture grows.

Establish strategic communications operations: Creating comprehensive strategic communications opera-tions is a three-step process. First, law enforcement must engage the community, focusing on perceptions the com-munity members have of law enforcement and area street gangs, building partnerships within the community. Second, law enforcement must make sure their actions match the realities within the community and understand how their actions influence community perception. Third, law enforce-ment must ensure that all available resources are used to communicate the intended message.

Use a “whole of government” approach: Law enforce-ment must liaise with the various civic service providers required throughout the community or ensure that repre-sentatives from these civic service providers are available to meet directly with members of the community and law enforcement on an “on-demand” basis. Repair or restoration of civic services should coincide with law enforcement opera-tions. This whole-government approach removes immedi-ate criminal activity, takes a measured step toward helping remove many of the conditions that allow it to set up in the location to begin with, and sends a signal to the local commu-nity that the whole of government is committed to resolving their local issues and reinvesting in the neighborhood.

Responsibility for the maintenance of gains must be transferred to the TCLs and any other responsible

community organizations: This allows law enforcement to move from a position of agency sponsorship to agency support, keeping commitment lighter, less expensive and sustainable. Furthermore, this transfer of responsibility cre-ates a real sense of ownership within the community and reinforces the TCLs’ stature, leading to enhanced voluntary reporting of other criminal activity and actors.

Strategy in PracticeIn 2009, Massachusetts State Police troopers Michael Cutone and Thomas Sarrouf, both Green Berets and Iraq War veterans, began Counter Criminal Continuum (C3) Policing in Springfield, Mass. Using the above strategic ele-ments, Cutone and Sarrouf and a small team of dedicated troopers and Springfield PD personnel focused their efforts on an eight-block section of a neighborhood with a signifi-cant gang problem.

Results indicate decreases in violent crime, property crime and weapons offenses. Calls for police service in the area have risen, indicating increased community involve-ment and stronger perceptions of police legitimacy. The pro-gram has expanded in scope from its initial eight blocks to 30 blocks, and the program has been the subject for atten-tion from both the IACP and local media. In May, 2013, the C3 program was featured on 60 Minutes.

The lesson: When such strategy and intelligence-driven tar-geting and operations are deployed against the criminal street gang or other criminal network, law enforcement is afforded the most effective and efficient means to disrupt, destabilize and ultimately dismantle the criminal street gang. LOM

John A. BerTeTTo is a sworn member of the Chicago Police Department. He is the author of Counter-Gang Strategy: Adapted COIN in Policing Criminal Street Gangs, Countering Criminal Street Gangs: Lessons from the Counterinsurgent Battlespace, Designing Law Enforcement: Adaptive Strategies for the Complex Environment, and Toward a Police Ethos: Defining Our Values as a Call to Action. Officer Bertetto holds a Master of Science degree from Western Illinois University and a Master of Business Administration degree from St. Xavier University.

Social Network Analysis SoftwareA tool to track who’s who in street gangs

Recently, a new SNA software program has been developed that includes several of these features. Developed in con-junction with the Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Military Academy West Point, GANG (GANG Analyzes Networks and Geography) is designed specifically for law enforcement. Features include:

• Abilitytodeterminedegreeofnetworkmembership—GANGexaminesthenumberofdirectrelationships(throughco-arrest or other co-contact field data) an individual has with known or admitted gang members and calculates a probability, or degree of confidence, that the individual is a member of that gang.

• Abilitytoidentifyinfluentialmembers—GANGidentifiesthisset.Lawenforcementcanthenchoosetotargettheseindividualswithsocialserviceefforts,knowingthattheirexitfromthegangislikelytopullmanyothermembersout with them; target them for anti-violence messaging, knowing that their com-munications to the rest of the gang is likely to have the most meaningful effect; or target them for removal via incarceration.

• Abilitytomapthe“ecosystem”ofagang—GANGidentifiesinter¬nalsubgroupssothatgangsandgangfactionsthattend to associate with each other may be identified.

Counter-Gang