Washington RISSGang Proposed Policy

WSIN RISSGang Background Information

Mission: The Western States Information Network (WSIN) Regional Information Sharing Systems Gang Program (RISSGang) will provide accurate and timely gang related intelligence to the law enforcement community. Washington RISSGang Program: Washington RISSGang is a comprehensive web based gang resource that offers a criminal intelligence database, informational resources and a secure collaboration platform. The Washington RISSGang criminal intelligence database provides law enforcement agencies with access to gang information; including gang members, organizations, weapons, photographs, and graffiti. Washington RISSGang also provides for a simultaneous search of 24 (at the time of this writing) separate but connected databases (which includes other regional databases such as CalGang) from a single inquiry. Gang-specific news, documents, and publications are organized in the following topical areas: * * * * * * * Street Gangs Drug Gangs Youth Gangs Ethnic Gangs Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs Prison Gangs Hate Groups * * * * * * Graffiti Hand Signs Colors Terminology Crypto/Codes Tattoos

These services are available to all authorized users.

Gang Definitions Criteria for Entry

Washington Statutory Definitions: RCW 9.94A.030 (12) "Criminal street gang" means any ongoing organization, association, or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, having a common name or common identifying sign or symbol, having as one of its primary activities the commission of criminal acts, and whose members or associates individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal street gang activity. This definition does not apply to employees engaged in concerted

activities for their mutual aid and protection, or to the activities of labor and bona fide nonprofit organizations or their members or agents. RCW 9.94A.030 (13) "Criminal street gang associate or member" means any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang and who intentionally promotes, furthers, or assists in any criminal act by the criminal street gang. Criteria for entry: A subject may be submitted for entry into Washington RISSGang when at least two of the following criteria have been established through investigation: 1. Admits gang membership or affiliation. 2. Has gang related tattoos. 3. Writes or possesses gang paraphernalia (i.e., documents, bandannas, graffiti). 4. Wears gang related clothing or jewelry (specific colors, numbers and initials on clothing, gang graffiti or moniker written on clothing, gang members in a group dressing, or possessing items clearly marked with gang colors or markings). 5. Uses a gang related moniker. 6. Has been identified as an individual affiliated with criminal street gang based upon reliable information (i.e. an outside Law Enforcement agency or reliable informant). 7. Photographs and/or group pictures with other gang members. 8. Uses hand signs and/or verbiage in a context that indicates gang affiliation. 9. Associates with other known criminal street gang members. 10. Is involved in criminal street gang related crimes or activities. 11. Is identified as a gang member by another gang member. 12. Name appears on a gang document (i.e. phone lists or internet postings) or in gang graffiti. 13. Targets victims or property from a rival gang, or crosses out rival gang graffiti.

End Users
WSIN has an existing membership application and policy board process for approving membership. Membership is typically open to all local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement agencies; prosecutors; corrections agencies; and others, such as multijurisdictional task forces and regulatory agencies with law enforcement authority. This application process will be used for vetting access to Washington RISSGang.

Gatekeepers
Gatekeepers: Entering and verifying gang related information shall be limited to Washington RISSGang Gatekeepers. A Washington RISSGang Gatekeeper will be a law enforcement officer from a Gatekeeper agency that meets the following requirements: 1. A Gatekeeper agency is an agency recognized as a leader in identifying and gathering gang related information and a willingness to organize and coordinate information collection activities for law enforcement agencies within a geographical region. 2. A Gatekeeper officer is a gang/intelligence officer with an extensive background in gang-related investigations. This officer(s) would have the responsibility to enter records and update all the records for that agency or region. Any changes to Washington RISSGang records will only be made by the Gatekeeper, who will be the owner of the record. 3. Gatekeeper officers shall ensure that each record entered into the database is compliant with 28 CFR Part 23. Gatekeepers shall also ensure that there is sufficient source documentation to support the entry. All records are purged after 5 years of inactivity. 4. Gatekeepers shall receive training on Washington RISSGang and the policies and procedures for entry of subjects into the database. Gatekeepers should also meet periodically to review the progress of the database and to assure each gatekeeper is meeting the goals established.

Comment [g1]: Couple of items to consider when determining Gatekeepers responsibilities: -Record ownership. -Working on behalf of agencies within the region. -Contact information on the record itself. -Membership access capabilities. -Notifications of hits. -Notifications on hits -RISSafe usage. -RISSafe to RISSIntel feeds. -Hit notification from RISSafe. -Usually require a separate sign-on from their normally agency access in WSIN.

Comment [g2]: Ownership should be maintained with the submitting officer. Is it intended that the Gatekeepers will be notified when hits are made against the records they entered for other officers and agencies. Consider notifications of hits regarding RISSafe, are the Gatekeepers the ones to notify on these hits that can occur any time during the day and evenings. Comment [g3]: If gatekeepers are owners of the records as stated above, they must have and poses the source documentation. Comment [g4]: Does this include dissemination rules for hits on data within the Washington RISSGang. Processing of notifications will fall under these Gatekeepers which requires them to make notification calls. Note that these gatekeeps are literally the watch center staff for this database when implemented. WSIN watch center staff will not have the same visibility as these gatekeepers. The whole aspect of Watch center technician must be taken in consideration.

5. Gatekeepers must ensure the relevance, accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of information entered. 6. Each entry must be peer approved by at least two Gatekeeper officers. 7. Washington RISSGang is not intended to provide information for which law enforcement action may be taken. The fact that a record exists shall not be used to provide probable cause for an arrest nor may it be documented in an affidavit for a search warrant. End users must contact the contributing agency to obtain and verify facts. Also, when an end user has contact with a gang member in the database, they may communicate with the owner of the records (the Gatekeeper) to propose any updates that need to occur to the records (for example: new crimes, new pictures, associations, monikers, scars, marks and tattoos) 8. Gatekeepers will be power users of WSIN and need to be familiar with all resources available. This will allow them to answer questions officers may have regarding use of the system. The position of Gatekeeper(s) is key to the success of Washington RISSGang. The work load these officers would be taking on is significant, especially when the initial work of populating the database is undertaken. This will require commitment of resources by the lead agencies in the various regions. Gatekeepers may utilize administrative staff working under their direction to accomplish data entry. WSIN also has the ability to bulk upload data from existing systems to help jumpstart the population of the database with basic information. Any data uploaded into Washington RISSGang shall be placed in a pending status until it can be peer reviewed. A Gatekeeper would then have the ability to add photographs, narratives, and other detail to bring the records up to the established standard.
Comment [KA5]: This is not a requirement of the technology and I dont understand how/why this is envisioned and more specifically how it would actually be handled. Comment [g6]: The mechanism to requiring record approval in not currently available in the application. This must be manual procedure before any data enter is even made. RISSGang does not have this Peer Approval functionality.

Comment [g7]: Gatekeepers are designated in the database as Watch Center Technicians. They will need to be trained as mini Watch Center staff but only within the Washington RISSGang database.

Comment [KA8]: Im assuming this would use the Quality Control feature that our Watch Center uses to review bulk loaded data. Comment [g9]: Karen, this is not the quality control process. This is the Pending Review process within the application for Uploaded Records that are searched during the upload process. This is the review of the hit and whether a merge/Edit will be made to the record or and new submission is added with a link to the hit record. Review of the records needs to be accepted first before any additional information such as photos, etc can be added to the record.

Gatekeeper Oversight Committee

Gatekeeper Oversight Committee: The Washington RISSGang Gatekeeper Oversight Committee shall consist of one representative from each Gatekeeper Agency, the Washington WSIN Law Enforcement Coordinators and a representative of the WASPC Intelligence Committee. The Washington RISSGang Gatekeeper Oversight Committee responsibilities:

1. Review and approve requests from agencies desiring Washington RISSGang Gatekeeper status. 2. Recommend Washington RISSGang policy changes to WSIN. 3. Provide guidance to ensure quality of information entered in to Washington RISSGang.

Comment [JH10]: Who will be responsible for suggesting software changes? Is this the oversight committee?