| May 6, 2008 Computer system helps keep track of gangs
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(Stephen Iandoli, NECN: Chelsea, Mass.) - Law enforcement officials in Massachusetts are hoping to do a better job of keeping track of gangs. The state is planning to launch a new computer program this summer.
NECN’s Stephen iandoli has more.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Safety hopes the Massgangs project, a computer system allowing cities and towns across the Bay State to share information on gang members, helps break down borders and barriers of gang violence.
The state used a $1.2 million dollar grant from the Department of Justice to implement Massgangs, which is targeted to start this summer. It hopes the project will make it easier for local and state law enforcement agencies and, perhaps most importantly, Department's of Correction across the state to share information. Experts say gang activity is even more prevalent in jails.
The only real issue, some experts have with the Massgangs project, are privacy and certainty. Just how much information is being shared between departments and does that information mean that a person is definitely a gang member.
B.U. Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, and 20-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, Tom Nolan says the potential is there.
Wood said the Commonwealth will follow federal regulations to determine information entered. If, in a five-year period, a person is not called up in the system, their information is purged.
Wood believes Massachusetts
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