Greetings and welcome to our first edition of “Let’s Investigate Further” where we interview professionals in the law enforcement community on their experience with technology, sharing information, and ultimately how that affects gang investigations.  This month, we sat down with former Corpus Christi Police Officer and retired Federal Probation Officer/Supervisor, Sara Penne-Villarreal, to discuss her career and her use of technology while on the job. Sara was a Corpus Christi Police Department (CCPD) officer from 1985-1990. During those years, she served in patrol, in Vice & Narcotics, and taught the D.A.R.E. program. She then began a lengthy career with the Federal Courts starting out as a U.S. Pretrial Services Officer. The Pretrial Department was responsible for giving bond reports to the Federal judges and supervising those out on Federal bonds. She was the agency’s electronic monitoring specialist for 8 years then became a supervisor in 2007. The U.S. Probation and U.S. Pretrial agencies merged in 2015, and Sara began supervising 8-9 Probation Officers who handled everything from Presentence Report writing, revocation hearings, electronic monitoring, drug treatment, and visitation and supervision of offenders. She retired in December 2020 after 30 years.

We asked Sara these 4 questions:

Is there any technology that you wish you had for your investigations that recently came about?

Back when I was a CCPD officer, we had little technology available to us. We had to ask a dispatcher to run a person or a plate for us and did not have any kind of mobile device with us. I am so happy to know all patrol cars now have laptops, and also about all of the advances in equipment now for officers.  It is vital for them to have updated information available at their fingertips. We used to keep a little black binder for Field Interrogation Sheets that were filled out with pen & paper. Now, software and databases like GangScope are available for them to check on subjects themselves and be more efficient.

What are your thoughts on sharing data among police departments?

This is a topic that can make me, and many in our career, very frustrated. There are many challenges in law enforcement, but this issue is one that binds us all. Communication and collaboration with other departments and other officers is one essential way to make progress. There have been numerous attempts to connect systems or databases, and it is definitively improving with technology, but each jurisdiction still has its own set of rules or restrictions. When I was with Federal Probation, I encouraged an open line of communication between my officers and PD officers, or state and county probation departments. It was crucial that we both knew what each other was doing. Our Federal System is called PACTS – Probation Automated Case Tracking System. The system is shared throughout the country, so we were able to pull up information about any offender in any state. This was imperative if an offender was moving to another jurisdiction, had court in another area, or had a criminal history in another state.

What is the technology tool you used most as an officer?

This may sound simple, but as a Federal Pretrial and Probation Officer, I believe the tool that helped us the most over the years was the cell phone. The cell phone or a mobile device was provided for each officer to have in the field, first as a safety measure, but was enhanced throughout the years to hold our data system with all our offenders’ information, description, picture, addresses, etc. Officers are able to read about an offender’s conviction, their conditions of probation, their criminal history, or their background to prepare for a home visit. The mobile devices are not just helpful to find a map or get directions to an offender’s home but also are used for taking pictures of the home, a different vehicle present, an offender’s new tattoo, any possible evidence, etc. 

During COVID, officers used their cell phones to hold offender visits via Facetime, attend Zoom meetings, discuss violations with a judge, etc.

How can gang investigators better manage the information they get?

I think the number one priority has to be updating the database as soon as a contact or an action happens. Current identifiers, associates, a vehicle, or an updated picture could make the difference in solving a crime or keeping officers safer. Also, all patrol officers having access to view the information, even if they may not be able to edit or add to the database, but it is imperative to keep the information updated. Not only is technology vital in day-to-day operations, but it also makes report writing and data compilation more efficient. 

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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.

*A non-gang version 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.

The GangScope Team