Of Mice and Men: Gangs, Narco-Terrorism, and the USA

[MikeF]

Just to throw this out there, what can a police department do about lack of jobs and a bad education system?

One firm conclusion that I've come to is that gangs are not a police problem just as insurgencies aren't a military problem. They are societal problems that must be addressed holistically.

Checkpoints:
I would have to wonder what good they would do here in the United States. LE can set up checkpoints;however, the stops can not be random.

Checkpoints have limited value regardless of the restrictions.

Static/Fixed Checkpoints. Think of a toll road. If you have the time, you will choose to bypass a toll road in order to not have to pay to drive.

Snap/Temporary Checkpoints. Think of a DUI checkpoint. You may get lucky and catch the first of a group, but a single cellphone call can alert the others of the location of the CP.

MikeF - would gangs that do things for the community start to cross the line between money and political goals? For example, motorcycle gangs participating in toy runs during the holidays.

Certainly yes. Remember Robin Hood and his merry band (gang) of thieves robbing from the rich and giving to the poor? In civilian terms, this is good Public Relations (PR). In military terms, we would call this good psychological operations or the "narrative."

In theory, it's easy to differientiate between gangs and insurgencies. In practice, it can become more difficult particularly when the group morphes or evolves. My recommendation is to consider both gangs and insurgencies as social networks.

Mike