How Much Do You Know About Gangs?: Take This Test

Why did your state legislature address the criminal street gang issue?
To maintain public order and safety.
To respond to the ever increasing crime caused by street gangs that threatens and terrorizes peaceful citizens.
To stop this mounting criminal activity.
To provide for increased penalties for those found guilty of criminal gang involvement and eliminate the patterns, profits, and property helping criminal street gang activity, including street gang recruitment.
What is a criminal gang?
It is a formal or informal ongoing organization, association, or group that has as one of its primary activities the committing of criminal or delinquent acts.
Who is a criminal gang member?
A person who meets two or more of these criteria:
Admits to criminal street gang membership;
Is identified as a gang member by a parent/guardian;
Is identified as a gang member by a documented reliable informant;
Reside/frequents a gang's area, adopts their style of dress, hand signs, or tattoos, and associates with known gang members;
Is identified as a gang member by an informant of previously untested reliability and such identification is corroborated by independent information;
Was arrested more than once in the company of identified gang member for offenses which are consistent with usual criminal street gang activity;
Is identified as a criminal street gang member by physical evidence such as photographs or other documentation;
Was stopped in the company of known criminal street gang members four or more times.
When we talk about the gang and security threat group subculture, what are the main gang categories or influences?
The world of gangs and threat groups can become very complex. Knowing this, it helps to divide these groups into some basic categories that will form a firm foundation to learning and understanding. Most gangs or STGs you will encounter will fall into one of these basic categories:
Street Gangs
Prison Gangs
White Supremacy Groups
Motorcycle/Biker Gangs
Subversive Groups
Cult Groups
Why is there a Security Threat Group Management program in the Department of Corrections?
To ensure the safe, secure, and orderly operations for staff, visitors, and inmate/offenders throughout the department by identifying, validating, and certifying STGs and their members and monitoring STG activities.
What is a Security Threat Group (STG)?
Formal or informal ongoing groups, gangs, organization or associations consisting of three or more members who have a common name or common identifying signs, colors, or symbols. A group whose members/associates engage in a pattern of gang activity or department rule violation.
What is a certified STG?
Inmate/offender groups, gangs, or organizations that are certified by the Threat Assessment Review Committee (TARC). Any group that presents a threat to the security and orderly operations of department facilities based on the group's activities, propensity for violence, documented acts, organizational structure, philosophy, and/or historical data from other jurisdictions or prison systems is designated as a certified STG.
Why do we call them STGs?
To eliminate any recognition these criminals may draw from publicity about their gang or its activities. Also, STG accurately describes how these groups can impact the security of institutional operations.
How does the STG member certification process work?
The STG validation process involves, but is not limited to:
Identifying individual gang members, not gangs themselves;
Observing behavior;
Locating graffiti;
Observing body markings;
Noticing certain clothing arrangements; and
Gathering intelligence from reliable sources.
Information collected is then assigned a point value through a validation work sheet. When a suspect reaches a certain point value, he/she is certified as either a suspect member or confirmed member based on their accumulated point value.
Can I get information about a specific inmate's gang involvement?
No. Although we are committed to sharing information related to gangs that are active within our state, specific intelligence related to a particular inmate's involvement is confidential and for law enforcement use only.