This is not good enough reason to get LTC in Quincy, Brockton etc.. ?

[VTpro]

More reason to hate and leave Massachusetts

Article

With new database, gangs can run but not ‘hide’
Jessica Van Sack By Jessica Van Sack
Monday, May 5, 2008 -

Jessica Van Sack is the Herald's Boston police bureau chief covering crime and justice. She works out of City Hall where you can send tips to [email protected].

Faced with an increasingly mobile culture of gangbangers, top law enforcement agencies are firing back.

State officials plan by August to launch MassGangs, a new computer program that will track gang members statewide and join the records of local police departments into a central clearinghouse for law enforcement officials, almost like a ballistic fingerprint database of gangs.

Funded by a $12 million grant from the Department of Justice as part of a larger intel-sharing initiative, the program should enable police departments to anticipate flare-ups of violence faster and locate connections among associates almost instantly.

It’s about time.

The Hub’s Cape Verdean Outlaws have trickled into Brockton. Members of ragtag Asian gangs are going from Quincy to Randolph and back. And the notorious Latin Kings - a crew of drug-dealing dregs - has extended its tentacles from Springfield to Holyoke and even into parts of Vermont.

“The bad guys don’t care when they run from Quincy to Boston or Boston to Quincy,” said John A. Grossman, undersecretary for forensic science and technology at the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety. “The idea that our information-sharing would stop at those borders is crazy.”

That’s largely what’s happened in the past. In interviews, several police and law enforcement sources described encountering a babbling brook of gangbanger implants.

“Usually it’s a day or two later - after something happened - that we’re talking about it,” said Lt. John Crowley of the Brockton Police Department, which is tackling a surge in violence related to warring youth factions and their petty street beefs.

Still, only about 40 major players reside in Brockton - a fraction of what lurks within the Hub’s boundaries - and the six-member gang unit knows who they are.

It’s when Hub kids make trouble at nightclubs in Brockton and start forming alliances there that cops are caught unaware. Or at a crime scene when there’s some hoodlum they’ve never seen before who unbeknowst to them is running with a dangerous crew based elsewhere.

“It’s especially an issue for officer safety,” said state police Major Michael Crisp. “The police need to know who they’re encountering.”

Designed by techy project manager Tracy Varano of the Criminal History Systems Board and overseen by Curtis Wood, director of Criminal Justice Information Services, the program allows officers to log on and search by any number of criteria - everything from the person’s street moniker to an identifying tattoo, their gang colors, a date of birth or street address.

Said Wood, “They can run, but now they can’t hide.”

The database will first absorb repositories of information on gangs within state police, Boston and Lawrence, and the Department of Correction before bringing in other departments such as Brockton and “We’re routinely having gang members travel, primarily for reprisals,” said FBI Special Agent David Donahue of the Southeastern Massachusetts Gang Task Force, which is tracking more than 1,000 gang members in Brockton, New Bedford, Taunton and Lakeville alone.

“For intelligence purposes, the database is invaluable,” he said.

To get a sense of the dizzying volume of gangs throughout the state, look no further than the jails. Currently, 2,630 inmates hail from more than 250 separate gangs, according to the Department of Correction.

Yet Brockton, Quincy and Boston residents can't get LTC/A permits

a quote from a Masscop member

Since Crowley took over as licensing authority,his was downgrading people from all lawful to target and hunting or business use only. He said publically that a citizen must have a better reason than claiming self defense before he will issue a LTC for all lawful purposes. He revoked licenses even though there were no statutory disqualifications...

When is this Crowley leaving ?

 

[vicpinto]

Crowley = piece of shit.

 

[clinotus]

“It’s especially an issue for officer safety,” said state police Major Michael Crisp. “The police need to know who they’re encountering.”

Shouldnt that be for public safety?

Also how are they tracking these gangs? Mobile records? License plate data?

 

[Blitz1]

Also how are they tracking these gangs? Mobile records? License plate data?

Grills with tracking devices.

 

[VTpro]

Just a way to share $12 Million tax dollars amongst their friends...
yet on Beacon Hill they cry shortfall

 

[sig shooter]

hey i got a idea throw the f***in gang members in jail when they commit a crime!!!!! wait... that makes too much sense. criminals that dont care about laws they going to break them anyway so why take away a law abiding citzens right to self defense!!!!

 

[matt1956]

I will be renewing in a little over a year, if i dont get UPGRADED to a unrestricted LTC-A, I'll be moving.

 

[Garys]

There is no logical connection between one issue and the other. Cooperation between law enforcement agencies is way behind where it should be and this system will help. Criminals move quite easily between cities, counties, and even states. It's actually a formalization of cooperation that has been going on in one form or another for several years. Every year at the Brockton Fair, there are Boston and MSP detectives working with the Brockton PD to identify gang members and keep things under control.

This kind of activity helps put gang members in prison, which is what we should all hope for.

To try to tie this in to a lack of LTC issuance by a soon to be former COP, makes gun owners look like morons to the members of the general public and others who read these forums.

Gary

 

[Scrivener]

There is no logical connection between one issue and the other. Cooperation between law enforcement agencies is way behind where it should be and this system will help. ...
To try to tie this in to a lack of LTC issuance by a soon to be former COP, makes gun owners look like morons to the members of the general public and others who read these forums.

Agreed. The two issues are separate and distinct.

 

[Fsorrent]

Unfortunately, prison doesn't prevent these POS from continuing their gang-like activities nor will it prevent a new head from sprouting.

 

[VTpro]

...To try to tie this in to a lack of LTC issuance by a soon to be former COP, makes gun owners look like morons to the members of the general public and others who read these forums.

Gary

The point is, gangs are growing in these cities or towns I highlighted, and the residents deserve the right to be able to defend themself
but is denied by the chief of those cities/towns.

Police have been fighting crimes in these areas for decades, and yet crime is rising, all of a sudden you believe this is gonna be the magic bullet to cure crime ?

Yep, this system is gonna stop criminals from going into these cities and towns now.

You probably live in a "safe" town, but will you give up your LTC/A ?

 

[WayneWong]

I think the OP's point was that these communities are becoming dangerous with gang activities, so much so that there is a need to share intelligence because of the gangs mobility into and out of jurisdictions. So the jurisdictions are admitting things are dangerous but are not recognizing this danger as enough to allow it's citizens to defend themselves by CCW. It's very hypocritical.

 

[Jake L]

I get it, Crowley wants to make it so only the criminals will have guns to protect themselves from the police. They don't bother to get an LTC why should they . The rest of the law abiding will just have to make do shooting targets or hunting.

 

[WayneWong]

I get it, Crowley wants to make it so only the criminals will have guns to protect themselves from the police. They don't bother to get an LTC why should they . The rest of the law abiding will just have to make do shooting targets or hunting.

Crowley has given his notice. I hope Quincy goes ALP because we need a culture shift in the metro Boston area and this could be good for other nearby communities


FWIW. after DC vs. Heller gets announced I would be glad to participate in an empty holster event in a bold BLACK town ie Peabody or Salem or Canton, etc. Nothing is going to get better; these asshats won't do the right thing unless you make them do the right thing. That's the way some shit works here.

 

[DTR]

Yes Crowley is a POS who I will not be sorry to see retire. When I applied for my FID a couple of years ago I received a "target shooting" only restriciton. Anyone else ever get a restriciton on an FID? Well anyway its only 56 more days till he retires. Looks like I'll be appyling for an unrestricted LTC on July 1. Sorry for the rant.

 

[Garys]

The point is, gangs are growing in these cities or towns I highlighted, and the residents deserve the right to be able to defend themself
but is denied by the chief of those cities/towns.

As rule, people not involved in gang activity aren't the victims of gang related crime. At least not the type of crime that carrying a hand gun will protect you against. A lot of people seem to think of these gangs as just groups of tough kids committing petty crimes. That's the wrong way to look at it. These gangs are highly organized, more along the lines of what is popularly known as the Mafia.

Police have been fighting crimes in these areas for decades, and yet crime is rising, all of a sudden you believe this is gonna be the magic bullet to cure crime ?

Decades? I think not. Nor do I think that there is one magic bullet for any type of crime. This is just another weapon to identify and track active gang members.

Yep, this system is gonna stop criminals from going into these cities and towns now.

You probably live in a "safe" town, but will you give up your LTC/A ?

There are NO safe towns. To think otherwise is foolish. When there is organized gang activity in Burlington, VT, it's a sign that these gangs are highly mobile and very well organized. If you don't understand that basic fact, then you have no business commenting on efforts to combat gangs.

And no, I'm not an expert, but it's not very difficult at all to find enough material to become reasonably conversant on the subject.

Gary