A just-released report reveals that Florida has 1,100 criminal gangs and close to 49,900 persons involved in gang activity. The report which was prepared by the Coordinating Council on Gang Reduction Strategies, under the chairmanship of Bill McCollum, Florida’s Attorney General, is the first progress report on Florida Gang Reduction Strategy 2007-2009.
According to the report, “there has been great success in suppressing and deterring gang activity around the state”, although a great deal of work remains to be done.
The Council which was established in October 2007, embarked upon a collaborative effort to develop the Statewide Gang Reduction Strategy with the involvement of community leaders from around the state. In June 2008, a strategy was presented and work began on developing 7 regional gang reduction task forces around the state to implement the strategy.
Central to the Florida Gang Reduction Strategy is its focus on at-risk youth and communities and schools where gangs are present, the report states.
While no funding support has been made available to the Task Forces since the inception of the Strategy, the report notes several accomplishments including the following:
– Expanding gang training for law enforcement
– Accomplishment of statewide gang assessment
– Improvements in gang intelligence sharing among law enforcement
– Increased community gang awareness education and prevention training
– Implementation of gang prosecution strategy utilizing the Racketeering Influenced Corruption Organization Act (RICO)
The 2010 priorities as set out in the report include:
– Collect and assess gang data annually
– Mazimize gang intelligence information sharing
– Promote collaborative public-private partnerships
– Promote public awareness of the Florida Gang Reduction Strategy
– Develop community gang awareness training and technical assistance projects
– Establish standardized in-service training programs for law enforcement, juvenile justice, education, and correction staff.
It is far from clear whether any state funding will be forthcoming to assist the Council and Task Forces in implementation of Florida’s Gang Reduction Strategy going forward.
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