Salt Lake City Gang Comprehensive Model

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Salt Lake police getting tough with gangs
May 19th, 2009 @ 10:06pm
By Whit Johnson
SALT LAKE CITY -- Salt Lake City police officers are redefining how they classify gang crimes. It's a model adopted by a number of cities across the country, and police say it's a major step in suppressing Utah's gang problem.
Over the past year, gang crimes in Salt Lake City have claimed innocent lives, including those of a store manager and a 7-year-old girl. Now, after city and state leaders have promised action, police say they plan to deliver.
A person is considered a gang member if they meet two of the following criteria:
• Self proclamation of gang membership• Photographs displaying gang involvement (this can be gang writings/graffiti on notebooks, books, walls, personal items, etc.) • Gang-style tattoos• Gang-style attire• Gang signs or posturing• Arrested with other known gang members (this can also be contact with other known gang members) • Information from a reliable source"I've been involved working gangs for about 12 years now, and I think that this is probably the most promising program that we have started to put together," said Lt. Isaac Atencio, Gang Unit commander for the Salt Lake City Police Department.
Atencio is referring to the Comprehensive Gang Model. Implemented last week, the program changes the department's definition of a gang-involved crime.
"What that will do is it will give us a more accurate picture of what's happening in the community," Atencio explained.
Under the previous definition, a gang-related crime had to be motivated by furthering the interests of a gang. Now, any incident that involves a single gang member will be called "gang-involved."
"It doesn't matter if a gang member commits a crime or is a victim of a crime, we're going to look at it as gang-involved," Atencio said.
A gang is defined as:
• A group of three or more persons that form an allegiance to the exclusion of others• The group has a common symbol, banner, color, name, etc. • The group engages in criminal activityThe commander says there won't be any change in prosecution, but police will be able to better record, monitor and respond to gang crime. There will also be a prevention team.
Cities across the country have already adopted similar programs. Santa Rosa, Calif., implemented a plan after a spike in violence and shared its success with KSL 5 News last July.
Salt Lake hopes to have a similar story, but police warn crime stats will have a very different look. "The actual number of crimes is not going to go up, but the classification that we're looking at is going to give us a clearer picture of how many crimes gang members were involved in," Atencio said.
We tried contacting civil rights advocates to see if they have any problem with the program. The ACLU of Utah said they didn't have enough information to comment.
E-mail: wjohnson@ksl.com