User:CheyenneM29/sandbox

Challenges
GIUs also face several challenges with curbing gang activity. Distinguishing between “gang-related” crime and “gang-motivated” crime can be difficult, though it is an important distinction for GIUs to make. However, a lack of historic data on gang activity can compound the difficulties GIUs already face. The mobility and ease of communication among gang members also presents challenges for these units, and gangs are constantly evolving in response to the actions of law enforcement.

Due to the challenges law enforcement agencies face in addressing gang activity on their own, GIUs promote collaboration and sharing of intelligence to combat gang activity and work with other agencies to dismantle larger gang networks. This sharing of intelligence remains a vital component to the operations of a GIU within correctional facilities, where the collaboration is sometimes referred to as police/corrections partnerships, as well as among law enforcement agencies. Intelligence sharing also helps to adequately train staff to respond to the gangs’ modus operandi, which can change as a result of new law enforcement policies or operations. Officers, therefore, must possess strong communication and analytic skills as well as a working knowledge of gangs and how they operate both within and outside of a correctional facility. They must also be skilled at forming liaisons with other agencies, interviewing gang members and inmates, sharing relevant information with staff and keeping a proper chain of command, and advising parole staff of which active gang members may pose a threat.

Community Oriented Policing (COP) is a strategy that GIUs use to address challenges with handling gang activity. In this strategy, officers will make informal contacts with the members of a community to address the community’s major problems and issues in anticipation of acquiring new sources of information (informants). By interacting frequently with the public, officers are notified of key concerns and can implement problem-solving techniques more easily.

Gang Databases
Working with the California Department of Justice and California Gang Node Committee, police officers and statewide corporations have made an electronically generated statewide database called "Gang Databases". To improve Gang intelligence, police officers have came up with a mechanism that ostensibly distinguishes "gang-related" crime and "gang-motivated" crime. This system provides a time-oriented form of Gang intelligence, that plausibly enhances officers' safety and identifies and tracks gang members within their community. These databases record information about individuals considered to be at risk for a crime or people suspected for past crimes.