No industry or company is exempt from the newest
wave of gangsters who've been penetrating Corporate America
undetected.
Source: Workforce Management
Sophisticated gang activity
continues to rise in the U.S.
Today's gangs are becoming
sophisticated. No longer are they uneducated young men who only hang out
on the street corners, drinking malt liquor in the "hood."
While
selling and dealing illegal narcotics is a major source of income for
many gangs, there are others who have found that big money is “there for
the taking”, so to speak, by joining the work force in corporate
America.
According to sources, there is a new
wave of gang bangers who have earned their high school diploma and even
college degrees. Gangs have
learned that members with education can infiltrate companies and
organizations so as to conduct criminal activity.
While most gang members are believed
to be getting jobs in the service industry, there are many, both
male and female who are moving into
manufacturing jobs. Jobs that are popular
among gang
members are in shipping, retail and warehousing,
and they now hold jobs in the warehouses, and offices of companies such
as pharmaceuticals, computers, electronics and other high priced
merchandise companies. They
are even known to infiltrate police departments and even security
companies who are hired to protect property and assets.
No industry, company or organization is exempt.
Female gang members
Male gang members are not the only
concern of the employer. Surveys indicate that between six and
twelve percent of the gang members throughout the nation are females.
These females are documented as perpetrators of crimes such as
robbery, assaults, and murder. They are used by the males to
transport or hold drugs and guns.
When applying for a position in the
workplace, they are less likely to draw attention to themselves as a "gang
banger."
Some gang numbers
A recent University of Chicago study
found that gangs increasingly are adopting a middle-class appearance,
while duplicating techniques used by organized crime. According to a
2008 Department of Justice survey, there are approximately 1,000,000
gang members nationwide.
What does this
mean for you - the employer?
It
may mean that “gang member applicants” may be attempting to join your
organization with the intent of obtaining information about your company
in order to commit fraud, steal company assets or gather valuable
intelligence that will benefit their gang. Their job may be
something as simple as learning about valuable shipments leaving a
warehouse and what routes the truck will follow.
It may mean that
you, as an employer, may need to develop or create a more stringent
applicant screening process designed to detect gang members or suspected
gang members who may be seeking employment. ;
It may mean that your company policy may need to be
upgraded and rigidly enforced to prevent the hiring of gang members.
Hospitals - Emergency Rooms
Just as gang members are applying
for jobs in Corporate America, there are also those who seek jobs, and
who have been hired,
in America's hospitals. Some for the purpose of having access to
drugs.
Other
gang members, like anyone else, frequently require medical treatment either in the emergency room
or possibly the trauma center. This is particularly true in any
city that has a large gang problem.
Hospital security experts say that the gang problem
in emergency rooms is becoming more and more familiar, with violence
becoming a common occurrence.
What is the concern? - Have you seen hospital
violence?
Gang members, who mayenter the hospital for treatment, may be high on drugs
or alcohol. They may go into a rage and attack the
staff if they think they are not getting the respect or the treatment
they deserve.
Or a gang member or a witness may have received
wounds at the hands of a rival gang and may be admitted to the hospital
for treatment. The rival gang members may be vicious enough to
enter the hospital for the purpose of silencing the witness or to finish
their deadly work on the rival gang member. It is essential that the staff be able recognize any visible signs of gang membership
when persons, who are believed to be gang members, enter the hospital, so as to alert the security force.
This also includes those who accompany the injured person.
Hospital Dangers - Not just a big city problem
Hospitals, in our major cities with
critical gang problems, experience gang violence all too often.
However, hospitals in any community, even small communities, are just as susceptible to the
dangers that gangs present to the staffs and security forces in our
larger cities.
WARNING: It is not against the
law to belong to a gang. Do not attempt to deny employment to
anyone because they are a gang member. Instead, use your resources
such as intensive background checks and drug tests to eliminate the
problem before it begins. Gangs are a threat to everyone.
TAKE THEM SERIOUSLY!!!
Gang Identification
Classes
Since 1995, Gangs OR
Us has been providing gang identification training to law
enforcement and corrections personnel at the city, county, state and
federal levels of government. I have also trained educators, civic
groups, and
other organizations
The "workplace" training
classes are designed to give companies, large or small, the means to
assist in the identification of job applicants who may be suspected gang members.
Topics in the
presentation include: Why you should know about gangs in the workplace,
using your company policy, applicant screening process, types of criminal
activity in the workplace, the history of gangs in the United States,
who joins gangs, gang identifiers (signs, symbols, clothing, tattoos,
graffiti), gang initiation practices, and backgrounds on well known
street gangs.
The presentations
is designed as a two (2) hour class.
What is the cost?
Costs include a fee for each presentation, plus all
travel-related expenses such as airfare or personal auto mileage, and lodging/meals
expenses.
During the past fifteen years I have presented gang identification training classes to numerous departments, large and small, throughout South Carolina as well as other
locations, in and outside of the United States. Some of the more noteworthy conferences at which I have spoken are:
International Training
National Community Awareness Workshops (2) - April, 2005, Grand
Cayman Island, BWI;
National Community Awareness Workshop -
November 2005, Cayman Brac Island, BWI
United States Training
Federal Bureau of Prisons - Florence, CO Federal
Corrections Complex, August 24,25,26, 2010
Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's Office - Four law
enforcement only classes - February 22 - 25, 2010, Lafayette, IN
Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's Office - Community gang awareness
public session; February 23, 2010, Lafayette, IN
Kenco Logistics Services; Human Resources Seminar - Gangs In The
Work Place - September 23, 2009, Chattanooga, TN
Federal Defenders Service, Attorneys and investigators, August 27,
2009, Washington
D.C.
Pinal County Town Hall - Gang Busters; It takes a community, April
22, 2009, Casa Grande, Arizona
Massachusetts Career
Development Institute,
Springfield, MA, April,
2007
GWC Inc. - 7th Annual
National Conference on Addiction and Criminal Behavior - September
17-20, 2006
International Association of Arson Investigators (SC
Chapter) - August 31, 2006
National District
Attorneys Association - June 1-3, 2005, Columbia, SC
15th Annual Utah Gang
Conference - 2005, Salt Lake City, UT
2004 National Summit on
Elimination Gang Violence, Miami, FL
U.S. Job Corps Southeast
Regional Conference, Atlanta, GA
Learning Generation
Initiative Gang Awareness Conference,
Goshen, IN
Community Gang Awareness
Seminar - Spartanburg, SC
National Major Gang Task
Force, Daytona Beach, FL
Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Corrections,
STG Training Conference, Salt Fork, Ohio
Western States Hostage
Negotiators Association Conference, Boise Idaho
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Gang Management Conference,
Beaumont, Texas
U.S. Penitentiary (BOP) -
Staff street and prison gang identification training, Lee County,
Virginia
Wesleyan College - Gang
and Violence Symposium, Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Ain't No Denying
Conference - Hosted by Steve Nawojczyk,
Little Rock, Arkansas
