One of the most troubling aspects to law enforcement when it comes to infiltrating various gangs, such as the Bloods, the Crips, and others, is the degree of time and effort it takes to establish a rapport with a targeted member, just on the outer periphery, without attracting suspicion. By their nature, gangs are insulated, and territorial, yet due to this they are traditionally limited at least somewhat in scope.
Now, however, this too has changed, thanks to the Internet. One of the most troubling trends in recent years from the perspective of those who track gang activities, hate groups, etc, is in the ability of gangs to interract over the internet.
Some even have special web-sites, though these usually won’t be listed in the name of the group, but instead will be listed as owned by an individual who is a member of the gang. Some gangs use public sites, such as the popular and these days controversial MySpace.com.
Because of this recent trend, George W. Knox, the director of the
Of course, as gangs get more sophiticatd, the harder they become to conduct surveilance on. Coded language, for example, can be relatively easily changed to adapt to these surveillance methods. From now on, an ordered hit, a drug transaction, or delivery, can all be ordered from the relative security of the Intrnet, as the more savvy of these gangs certinly aren’t going to be too careless.
And this isn’t even touching on membership drives, the prospect of which just became a bit more disconcerting.
