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Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Jerry McNerney (CA-11) introduced legislation to create a National Gang Activity Database to allow law enforcement officials nationwide to track and share information about gang members and their activities.
“As gang activity spreads across geographic boundaries, local law enforcement officials need a mechanism to easily share gang intelligence with each other,” Rep. McNerney said. “As we’ve all seen lately the way to make a dent in gang activity is to share information and cooperate across all levels of government.”
The National Safe Streets Gang Crime Prevention Act of 2007, H.R. 3474, will create a National Gang Activity Database, administered by the Department of Justice, to disseminate information on gangs, gang members, firearms, criminal activities, vehicles, and other useful information. This information would be used to identify and track gangs in order to solve and prevent gang crime.
The database would be available for use by investigators to solve and reduce gang-related crimes, allowing law enforcement officials to track the movement of gangs and members throughout a region, and coordinate law enforcement response.
Additionally, the National Safe Streets Gang Crime Prevention Act of 2007 expands the FBI Safe Streets program to provide more support to criminal street gang enforcement teams, including the Stockton Violent Crime Task Force, Central Valley Gang Impact Team, and the Oakland Safe Streets Task Force. The bill authorizes $50 million over the next five years for the FBI Safe Streets program.
“Fighting gang violence requires a multi-pronged approach with cooperation at the local, state, and federal levels,” said Rep. McNerney. “This database ensures that law enforcement officers at all different agencies will have access to pertinent, current information. With at least 84 gangs being tracked in the city of Stockton alone, and hundreds more in the state of California, information sharing is critically important.”
“This legislation will help law enforcement reduce gang-related crime and keep innocent people out of harm’s way,” said Brentwood Police Chief Mark Evenson. Officials from throughout East Contra Costa County, including from the Brentwood Police Department, will gather on September 22 to hold a Gang Summit.
Rep. McNerney introduced the National Safe Streets Gang Crime Prevention Act of 2007, H.R. 3474, earlier today. It will now be referred to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.
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