School safety has become one of the most significant concerns within communities today, and one that all entities of a community must address and work together to improve. Gang activity in schools can pose a threat to other students, staff, and the overall learning environment. Although recent shootings in schools have not usually been gang related, violence in general should not be taking place in what is meant to be a safe and secure location for our children. Here are some key points to consider:

• Prevention/Awareness: All school districts should be prioritizing prevention of violence by educating their students, families, and staff about gang involvement. Programs given at school can include recruitment tactics by gangs, signs of gang activity, statistics about gangs in your school’s neighborhood or area, and the consequences of gang activity.
• Collaboration/Partnerships: Schools should be working alongside law enforcement officials in sponsoring these types of awareness programs and to develop strategies to identify and address gang related issues in their schools. Building a strong partnership with police, parents, and school administration is key to intervening in any potential gang related situation. A police presence, or armed security guards, are the norm these days and should help deter gang activity.
• School Policies & Procedures: Establishing clear rules and policies regarding any kind of gang activity is crucial. Some policies may include enforcing a strict dress code, a tardy policy, locked doors and entrances, monitoring of hallways and areas around the school, and a zero-tolerance policy for any weapons or gang activity occurring on school grounds.
• Creating a Safe Environment: Schools have been working a great deal to reduce bullying, and to create inclusive and safe climates. This is crucial in also deterring gang activity. Staff must work to promote positive relationships, a sense of belonging, provide support for any at-risk students, and expand their counseling programs to identify any potential gang members.
• Intervention: Quickly addressing disputes that may occur between students and creating opportunities to work on conflict resolution may help reduce the possibility of violence at school.
• Be Proactive: It is important for schools to regularly assess their safety precautions and policies, and to update them as needed. Funding for more police presence or for updated security systems should be addressed routinely.

The perpetration of gun-related murders is often carried out by predictable people.

According to studies, almost all mass public shooters have extensive histories of mental health issues (whether delusional/psychiatric or depression/anger), disturbing behaviors, or interpersonal violence.

Intimate partner conflict and domestic violence history are major risk factors for homicide-suicides, even for those not involving intimate partners.

Especially in urban areas, a small number of recidivist violent offenders are typically responsible for the majority of gun violence.

The GangScope Team

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GangScope™ is an intelligence database that helps capture, analyze, search and share intelligence on criminals, gangs, and more. GangScope acts as a first-tier, internal database that manages data on known and suspected criminals and gang members. Intelligence is collected per incident and can include qualifiers, associates, acquaintances (points of contact), witnesses, images, and documents. GangScope’s collection of detailed information aids in investigations, analysis and ultimately solving crime. The software complies with standards outlined by federal (28 CFR) policies. While complying with standards, GangScope™ boasts usability through simple yet extensive data mining via search, reports, profiles, and watches.

The overall goal of GangScope™ is to provide law enforcement personnel/ crime analysts/ correctional officers/prosecutors with maximum data through a friendly user interface while remaining cost-effective.  

A non-gang version – IntelScope is also available if needed.

To learn more or to schedule a full demo of our system – request a demo here. We would welcome the opportunity to show you how Gangscope can help your department organize and store your data in a secure and compliant way.