Executive Summary Regarding California Gang Activity

A California governmental agency composed a report detailing the activity of criminal endeavors including gangs, terrorists, and mob-related activities. This report shows some of the trends in criminal activity that were found in 2005. Using these trends, law enforcement’s goal is to predict and prevent such activities from occurring in the future:

Many communities have been experiencing a reduction in gang activity as a result of gang injunctions. These efforts have reduced various gang-related activities and made some California communities safer from the dangers of gang violence.

Throughout their existence, individuals who participate in gangs have feuded with other gangs. The 2005 report found that more violence had been targeted against law enforcement as opposed to inter-gang violence. In fact, in that year alone, more than ten officers were killed as a result of gang violence in California.

A governmental anti-gang initiative known as Community Shield, has been active in targeting MS-13 members (which is a Sureno gang). Several MS-13 members have been arrested relating to various crimes both violent and non-violent. Some of these include: narcotics offenses, grand theft auto, and various violations relating to paroled individuals.

Many law enforcement agencies are seeing that gang members of Asian heritage are able to travel to other states to avoid arrest when being investigated.

The raketeer influenced corrupt orgs. Act, informally referred to as RICO, has led to many convictions for criminal conspiracies. RICO has been especially successful in getting convictions of outlaw motorcycle gangs. Convictions for murders, drug dealing, and other criminal enterprises have been obtain through continued use of RICO.

To date, there has not been a terrorist attack by al-Qaeda in California. This is due in large part to the investigative efforts of law enforcement authorities who foiled the plans of al-Qaeda members to detonate a bomb at Los Angeles International Airport during the 2000 millennium celebrations, and a 2002 plot to crash a plane into the U.S. Bank Tower (a.k.a. Liberty Tower) also in Los Angeles.

Investigation of a prison-based group known as Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is Saheeh raised awareness of the potential for terrorist radicalization within the prison system, which will continue to garner significant attention from authorities in an effort to prevent the group from becoming a serious threat.