The state of Utah has been talking about it for years: A statewide gang database to help law enforcement better track and control gang activity. But last week, the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice announced it would be making that database a reality. The database8212;which would keep a running file on everything from known gang members’ names and home addresses to their tattoos, vehicles, known associates and the days and times they have been encountered by police8212;would be available to law enforcement across the state. This would be a big change from the way law enforcement currently tracks gang activity.
Most Utah law enforcement agencies8212;from the Salt Lake City Police Department to the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office8212;keep some sort of record on known gang members, but those records aren’t always as useful as they should be. Bruce Champagne, a detective for the city of Saratoga Springs and former president of the Utah Gang Investigator’s Association, said that when officers are looking for information on suspected gang members and their activities, they often don’t know which question to ask because they don’t know where to look. For example, if a police officer in Ogden wishes to find information on a gang member and the only information available on that gang member is held by the police in St. George, there’s no way for the Ogden officer to know where to find that information, or if it even exists. The new state database would alleviate this problem by gathering all available information into one central location.
However, not everyone is enthusiastic about the new system.
Defense attorneys across the state are worried that the database could be used to unfairly label some people as gang members who are, in fact, not. Those entries could in turn be used by judges, who have authority in the state of Utah to take gang membership into account when they decide sentencing for criminals, to enact harsher penalties against offenders than they normally would. Furthermore, defense attorneys would not have access to the database, and would have no way of knowing whether their clients are on it or not. Without that knowledge, defense attorneys could have a harder time defending their clients.
Although the position of a defense attorney is a legitimate one, it is not strong enough to outweigh the benefits afforded by a statewide gang database.
Defense attorneys are most concerned about the human cost of the new database and the potential harm it might do to undeserving clients, but they fail to examine what the human cost would be if the database were to remain a law enforcement fantasy.
According to the Salt Lake County Area Gang Project, there are 338 gangs in the Salt Lake Valley, including infamous California natives such as MS-13 and the Sureños. As gang violence in Utah continues to rise (2008 was a particularly violent year, playing host to several high-profile gang killings along the Wasatch front) law enforcement will need every available resource to stem the tide of violence. Otherwise, the human cost to the community will doubtless outpace the human cost to a handful of pigeonholed criminal defendants.
Should the new database be a slipshod venture, a list on which anyone could easily find themselves if they’re not careful? Certainly not. The database should be tightly controlled and monitored when it comes to those whose identities are entered and removed. Fortunately, the current rules regarding database entries already call for such strict oversight8212;spelling out under what circumstances suspects can be considered candidates for the list, and requiring gang unit supervisors to approve all new entries. Undoubtedly, there will still be those who are erroneously listed, or whose gang involvement is limited. But only a small portion of those are sure to have that information unfairly used against them in a court of law, and they will be a small minority compared to those who benefit from the database’s creation.
All human cost considered, the new database promises to do more good for Utahns than harm, especially if the state further refines the system to somehow allow defense attorneys access on a case-by-case basis.
Simply put, “gang” is just another word for “organized crime.” And there’s not enough reason to keep Utah law enforcement from being just as organized as the criminals they contend with.
Aaron Zundel