Saturday, February 9, 2008

The gangs of Providence

This interesting news article describes the gang problem in Providence, Rhode Island. It mentions that an FBI intelligence analyst works within the police department on this problem. Collaboration is good, but why don't police departments have intelligence analysts of their own? Some of the largest of agencies do bu many don't. Isn't this important work?

2 comments:

  1. Good article. It mentions that deporting MS-13 members back to Central America slows their activity. Might it not also increase those individual's reliance on the gang, as deportation takes them away from their family and other non-gang contacts, and thus in the long term is a poor strategy? Any input on this?

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  2. Adrian,

    That's a very good point. Unfortunately, strategic thinking hasn't been a strong suit in policing nor analysis.

    For ideas to improve this state of affairs, see the book Strategic Thinking in Criminal Intelligence (Jerry H. Ratcliffe, editor) at
    http://jratcliffe.net/research/strategic.htm

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