Integrity Matters

These days integrity often seems to be missing in action.  We want to apply it to our leaders yet when we keep it real we must admit that many don't have it.  We wish they did, we desire that they did.  The truth of  the matter is that this trait, which is essential to the problem solver, is often absent.  Herein lies a problem.

In order to confront and degrade criminal organizations we must have men and women who are unconditionally forthright and honest, people of character who will not compromise their principles and values under any and all circumstances.  We must have people whose moral fiber is woven into their hearts.  Because it takes heart to confront a vicious adversary like criminal street gangs.

I discovered through my experiences at Danville P.D. that taking on gangs sometimes requires one to be able to do battle on two fronts.  Very simply put I had the streets to contend with and I had the "administration" to contend with.  The latter was the more challenging and tougher to deal with.  Working the streets came natural to me.  I felt a sense of comfort being out their because I knew my job and how to do it.  Dealing with incompetent and dishonest administrators is what confounded me.

Quite frankly I was perplexed at how certain members of the police department administration obtained and retained their positions.  I was, and still am, troubled by some of the elected and appointed officials in the criminal justice system who hold office.  Many aren't real and many lack integrity.  So how can they do the public justice?  They can't.

I tried like hell to overcome these obstacles and I did the best I could.  I continued the mission I set out to accomplish which was to protect and serve.  I was met with much resistance on the inside but my integrity carried me through it.

My message here is that to those who are being derailed by the same types of problems don't get discouraged.  Eventually the truth will surface and if you stay true to yourselves and to your principles you will be triumphant in the end.  Integrity always wins the race.

I want to say that not all justice systems are as lame as that in Vermilion County Illinois.  In fact, I'm confident a vast majority are not.  I've worked with and  for agencies who epitomize integrity.  And I am extremely proud to have served with them.  But there are agencies out there who don't make the grade and  it's up to you, the citizens of those communities, to turn things around.

Don't shy away from getting involved.  Demand answers and don't stop until you get the truth.  Fire those who are not serving the interests of the public.  Defeating public enemy number 1, criminal street gangs, takes the best and we need to put the best in the positions that can get the job done.

There are many fine men and women out there who have integrity.  Find them and hire them.  Then let them do their job.  Because when it comes to serving the public, anyone who doesn't have it will serve nothing but themselves.    

Justice Gone Awry

Murder after murder after murder is going unsolved in Vermilion County Illinois and it's not because the assailants have committed the perfect crime.  In fact, in most cases the police have arrested the person who they believed was responsible for taking the life of another.  And the Vermilion County State's Attorney, Randy Brinegar, has charged them.  But mysteriously when the case comes up for trial the state sets their suspects free and the cases hang in limbo.  This is problematic for several obvious reasons and I'd like to know what  the hell is going on there.

Are the authorities setting murderers free or are they locking up innocent people while the real killer is still on the streets to kill again?  The citizens of  the county would be outraged if they knew this was happening.  And I can't imagine what the families of the victims are feeling.  So where is the press?  This is a big deal.  Why isn't this stuff getting some media attention?  The fact is that there are no media outlets in the county or the surrounding area with the guts to hold those officials responsible accountable.  It's just a big network of bedfellows coddling each other while the truth remains at large.

We are left to guess at what the truth is since we are not being informed.  There is absolutely no transparency with the justice system in Vermilion County, from the law enforcement end to the prosecution.  Of course we read the headlines when an arrest is made but when the state fumbles the ball we hear little if anything.  I said back in 2008 that I had no confidence in the Danville Police Department administration, the State's Attorney and the Danville mayor.  I will echo those words today.  How could any of us have confidence in the supposed leaders of justice systems that allow such injustices.  And these guys are supposed to be above reproach?  What a joke.  They don't keep it real and they wallow in their lies.  And, yes, they get away with it time and time again.

I'm sure there are other places in our nation that deal with the same thing.  But I can speak on Vermilion County because I know it.  I worked in that system for over 20 years and saw the dark side of the politics in that county.  It's not what you know it's who you know.  There is no justice.  If you got money, status, know the right person or kiss the right butt you're good.  If you don't you're screwed.  This goes for everyone involved in the system, from the beat cop to the defendant.  If you are of no value to the "elites" for one reason or another you get the shaft.  To the beat cop that may mean a career buried in patrol on night shift, to the defendant a jail term not proportionate to the crime.  The truth is that most of the powers that be care of nothing but themselves.

I suppose it will take a public outcry to change things.  But when the people don't know it's going on there is no need for them to cry out.  It's one big vicious cycle.  It takes more than a handful of voices to turn it around, it takes a chorus and, Vermilion County, it's time you joined the choir.

  



    

Political Correctness Buries Truth

It seems as though in our "sophisticated" society everyone is so concerned about being politically correct that we lose sight of the facts.  The facts which, when exposed, bare the truth of the matter.  The truth often hurts and many are so consumed with going out of their way to keep from offending someone that nothing gets done.  Because when we don't keep it real when we address a problem the problem will never get solved.

Let's face it, how many politicians, department administrators or others in "positions of power and authority" blow smoke by telling the general population that everything is fine and they have control of the situation.  They mislead people into a false sense of security.  As long as the people think their world within their little bubble is safe and prosperous nothing else really matters.  And the same lying politicians and the like retain their positions while problems rage and the unwitting march blindly into the trap.

Case in point:  After an arrest sweep of dozens of street level drug dealers in Danville, Il our police department held a press conference touting their success.  I was a supervisor of the investigative operation which led to the arrests.  I was mandated by my deputy director to attend the press conference.  I was directed by the boss to give an interview to a reporter.  I went on the record and said that we were cracking down on gang activity.  The deputy director was watching me being interviewed and after my comment he was repulsed.  He pulled me aside after the interview and admonished me for mentioning "gang activity".  He said we don't want the public to think we have gangs, it would project a negative image of our fair city.  

So let's hide the truth, pretend the problem is not out their, ignore it and maybe it will go away?  Not.  Until we openly and transparently identify the problem we will never come up with solutions to solve it.  What a monumental disservice our "leaders" are doing to us and our futures by handing the problem on to our children. This is irresponsible and just plain wrong.

Once again, and after having much training and experience under my belt since that admonishment, I will go on the record and say that gangs are a problem in our community and many others like it.  So now what?  I said it.  People will gasp in disbelief and accuse me of being crazy.  Don't laugh.  That's what my department did to me.  When my partners and I started cracking down on the gangs after being trained by Denny Davis they accused me of "chasing ghosts" despite the mounds of cases we made and intelligence we gathered.  They warned us to stop associating with Denny and advised our continuation to do so would be a "bad career decision".  So my partners heeded their warning but not me.  I live on truth and won't be bullied.  So they tried to fire me by accusing me of being nuts.  Oh, I know that's not the politically correct language but I don't give a damn about being politically correct.  I care about being forthright and honest. 

Across the nation we see protests and civil unrest, looting and marauding.  The perpetrators, of course, blame the cops.  I get it, shift the blame away from their own errant ways.  So the authorities set out to create a case which will appease the masses while those who are in the right get crucified.  Is this how we, the people of the greatest nation  in the world, solve problems?  It's a disgrace.

No mention of gang affiliation or activity, not even a breath of it.  For how dare we make such a baseless accusation, right?  Wrong.  The truth is that much of the underlying actions by the so called victim which results in police use of force is gang related activity, committed by gang members.  But we don't want to sully the phony baloney reputation of the "innocent youth" so we divert the focus away from reality.

Wake up America, if we are going to solve the gang problems infesting our nation from border to border we need to stop the nonsense and get real.  If we don't the curtain may fall on what once was the greatest nation in the world.    

       

The Importance of Intelligence

A first step to combating a gang problem is developing a solid and accurate intelligence system.  In order to take down the leadership we must first know and be able to prove who the leaders are and their rank within the organization.

To gather intel you obviously have to get people to talk with you.  In gang infested neighborhoods this can be a challenge but one that can be overcome.  Simply put you have to have boots on the ground and have officers mingling with the residents on a daily basis.  Winning over hearts and minds doesn't happen overnight.  There is often a gap that needs to be bridged between the police and the community.  This gap is generally created due to a distrust of the police by the community.  A failure to understand each other usually leads to the distrust.  We cannot build trust when we don't get out of our police cruisers.

When speaking with citizens we must always be honest and respectful.  Our word has to be our bond.  This is the only way to gain respect.  If you're word's no good you're no good.  In the culture where gangs often flourish this is the language the citizenry knows and understands.  Once you have earned that respect by being a man or woman of your word you will get respect in return.  Remember, it's not the uniform that the people respect, it's the person in that uniform.  The "big me little you" attitude has to go.  We have to be on a level plain otherwise we will get nowhere.

Along with earning respect show the people you care by acts of kindness and concern.  Demonstrate that you can be confided in and counted on by helping solve problems.  It may not be a crime related problem, it may be a quality of life issue.  Work with the residents and the agencies who deal with such issues and get these problems solved.  It could be a pothole in the street, a clogged storm sewer, an unruly child.  Whatever it is when you show that  you will get these types of  issues resolved the people will see that you genuinely care about them.  Rapport will begin building and they will open up to you about more serious concerns.

People will begin spoon feeding you information  about criminal activity.  You will usually not get the whole enchilada in one serving.  It is understandable that people fear retaliation if it becomes known that they are giving you such information.  Once you demonstrate that you can be confided in and trusted with sensitive information be prepared.  The flood gates will  open and information will begin  streaming in.

You must be willing to protect your sources at all costs.  Even under threats of disciplinary action if you refuse to divulge your sources identities.  For example, I received information from more than one source about a threat on the life of an officer who had a tense encounter with a gang member while off duty.  I documented the information and issued an officer safety alert.  I was called in to the director of  public safety's office in the middle of the night to meet with him and his two deputy directors.  He told me he wanted to know who  my sources were.  I  told him I could not give up that information.  I had given my sources my word that they would  not be disclosed and I would not breach that.  He threatened to order me to  give the information and I told him I would not go back on my word therefore even if he did order me I would  refuse to  provide him with the sources identities.  I stood my ground and the director backed down.

The neat thing  about developing rapport with the community is that they will give you information freely and willingly.  You don't have to buy it or threaten sanctions against them if they don't provide it.  Information gained through the latter means  is often inaccurate and unreliable anyway.  So the  former is  by far the better.

The gangs become uneasy when you develop rapport with the community.  But to the gang member looking  for a way out of  the organization you become a ray of  hope.  When an opportunity presents itself seize it and pick the brain of these members.  This is when you really have to know you're stuff.  If you have studied and memorized the gang's history and literature you and the member will be able to develop a rapport.  Once that rapport has been established the member will more than likely tell you anything you want to know.  They will also surrender all sorts of weapons and contraband and disclose plans for future crimes.  It is simply amazing at what you can accomplish just by having a good rapport.  And it won't cost you a dime.
        

Documenting accurate intel requires the analyst to be highly trained in the various gangs that inhabit their community.  I have seen numerous cases where an officer who lacked the required gang training was given faulty intel and documented it as fact.  This creates many problems for obvious reasons.  Training cannot be overstated when it comes to an effective anti gang initiative.  A good motto is trust but verify.  Always verify the information before documenting it as fact.  For example, if a guy tells you he's a Black P Stone and he's got a Mickey Cobra tattoo you know he is not being truthful.  If you don't know the signs, symbols, colors, handshakes, gang laws, etc. you're in trouble.  Verify what you're being told by indicators and other intelligence.  

Once you have you're intelligence system up and running you can go to work on the leadership.  You'll be able to connect the dots and make cases which will withstand the test in a criminal trial.  Without an intel system you're spinning you're wheels.    

  

Getting Serious

Until administrators and elected officials get serious about combating gangs and the crime associated with them little will change in the way of seeing a difference in the crime rate.  Based on my experiences the biggest challenge is getting these officials to even admit that there is a problem.  When the leadership denies it exists how do the troops under their command effectively engage in problem solving?  They can't.  I dealt with this problem at Danville P.D.  The director of public safety, Larry Thomason, told me when I requested additional gang training for our department that he didn't believe our city had a gang problem.  He told me that if I thought we had a problem then I needed to prove it to him.  I responded by telling him that if 6 unsolved gang related homicides and an unsolved gang related solicitation of murder for hire on two police officers, all in less than a year, wasn't enough proof for him then nothing I said or did could prove it.

It is the old head-in-the-sand mentality.  Pretend the problem, the threat  is not out there and maybe it will go away.  This obviously is not the answer and it baffles me that the leader of the Danville police department embraces this attitude.  It is no wonder that Danville's crime rate soars.  I was not comfortable with Thomason's take on our gang problem so I went to the mayor, Scott Eisenhauer.  Denny Davis joined me.  We made our case and Denny offered the mayor free gang training for the entire Danville police department.  Eisenhauer did not accept Denny's offer and supported Thomason's position.  So I thought I would take it a step further and wrote to each member of Danville's city council, 14 aldermen in all.  I got 1 response.

The point is that the leaders of the community have to take the lead on developing effective and serious strategies at dealing with the gang problems.  They need to turn to experts who have the knowledge and skills to formulate a plan then put it into play.  They need to put aside their foolish pride and accept the fact that they are walking in darkness when it comes to dealing with criminal street gangs.  They need to get the training and allow their officers to get the training that will enable them to degrade these gangs.

Danville's  State's Attorney, while he was running for his first term, stated that he was assaulted by 3 gang members who threatened to bring harm to his family if he didn't stop all of this talk about gang crime prosecution.  His response should have been a vigorous effort to combat gang crime.  Instead he has done little that I'm aware of.

We, the voters, put these people in office to do a job.  If they are not going to do it then we need to fire them and put someone in that will.  And throwing money at the problem isn't the answer so I don't want  to hear that funding is not available.  In my letter to the aldermen I told them how to develop an effective strategy without spending a dime and they were not interested.  So my question is, what is the real reason they refuse to confront the issue?

It is a historical fact that flourishing criminal organizations have been able to infiltrate systems and corrupt them.  I happen to know some very specific information about some powerful individuals in our community who have succumbed to the pressure and influence of criminal organizations.  Reasons vary from having their own personal drug addiction to soliciting prostitutes to accepting blood money.  But whatever the case it is all corruption and we have to root it out.

Things get messy when you take on corruption but good people will fight the good fight.  I know you're out there.  Remember, all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.  Let's all get serious and do our  part to make our communities safer, if not for ourselves then for our children.          

Overcoming Fear

Gangs rule by fear and intimidation.  The irony is that they hide under a cloak of  secrecy and prey on  the  weak and  vulnerable.  If you have ever been in a place infested by cockroaches what happens when the light goes on?  The roaches scatter for cover and disappear into the cracks and crevices to hide and protect themselves.  This holds true with gangs, when the cloak is lifted and the truth exposed they scatter.  This is why education on gangs is so important.  When you learn about them and find out what makes them tick you make them uncomfortable and they simply will not operate outside of their comfort zone.

As an example of what I'm talking about I'll  address a case in Danville, Il.  Prior to 2007 I had just very elementary and basic knowledge about street gangs.  I knew they existed and was aware of some of the ways they identified.  What I didn't know is just how sophisticated they were and the strict organizational structure they followed.  I adhered to the philosophy set by my department which  focused on individual criminal offenders and not a broader criminal element.  As such "foot soldiers" were arrested repeatedly but the leadership within the organizations went on unchecked.

In 2007 when I began getting trained by Denny Davis my eyes were opened to a whole new world.  He taught me about the inner workings  of  the gangs and  how  to infiltrate to get at the leadership.  When I began applying this training and knowledge to the streets we started seeing a big difference.  The gangs became uneasy and were no longer a beat ahead of us.  We were a beat ahead of them and they knew it.  They went so far as to put hits out on two of our officers.  We foiled this murder-for-hire plot which reeled the leadership.  The Danville branch of the Motown Stones was called back to Chicago by their boss'.  They had  been operating unscathed in Danville since 2000 and controlling the drug flow.  With my new found knowledge we were able to rid our community of this infection.

(Before I go any further I should explain that our efforts to bring a murder for hire case against the leadership of the gang were obstructed by the hierarchy of my own department and our State's Attorney.  When I sought help from outside agencies I was placed under an internal investigation.  I was literally stopped in my tracks by the very department which employed me.  I would soon discover  that a prosecutor working for our State's Attorney was under the control and influence of the Black P Stones.  This prosecutor was highly thought of by high ranking members of my department and they set out on a campaign to silence me.  The State's Attorney also worked to protect his prosecutor and prevent us from furthering our investigation.  More on this in a future post.)

Knowledge is power and it will allow one to overcome their fear of the unknown.  When good people obtain this knowledge they can use it to identify organizations operating in their neighborhoods and inform the authorities.  When  the authorities gain this knowledge they can  work to infiltrate the gangs and break them down from the inside out.  Making this strategy work takes several  ingredients.  It takes a strong partnership with the police and the community, it takes people willing to get involved with taking back their neighborhoods, it takes a police force with the will to take on the gangs and it takes heart by officers who  should be dedicated at doing this.

By knowing and understanding gangs it removes their mystique and exposes them for what they really are.  Gangs are groups of individuals joined through a common criminal enterprise and unified under an organizational structure.  Without leadership the gang will disintegrate.  There need not be a paralyzing fear of them.  There does need to be people who commit and dedicate themselves to dismantling the gangs through proven strategies, strategies that involve using the power of the mind through education and training.  When we know them better than they know themselves it is like the light going on in a dark room full of cockroaches, they will run and scatter.  

 









       

                                                                     

Keeping it Real

When one mentions "organized crime" what do you think of?  Often we think of the traditional "mob" and the days of yesteryear.  Visions of old gangster movies may come to mind and the romantics portrayed by such.
But let's keep it real, organized crime is alive and well in America today.  Some may be surprised that these organizations are the criminal street gangs and, yes, they are controlling the flow in the criminal arena.  From drugs to murder, prostitution to gambling and intimidation to extortion.  These gangs are far more sophisticated than they are often given credit for and they find a way to stay a beat ahead of law enforcement.

There are dozens and dozens of gangs operating across America today yet how often do we really here of the negative impact they have on our communities?  We typically think of gangs as a big city problem but the reality is they have saturated our suburban and rural communities.  It's time for public officials to admit this and stop putting on like each criminal incident is an "isolated incident".  Until we admit we have a problem how on earth could we ever solve it?

I know this because I lived it.  I worked the beat as a law enforcement officer for over 26 years.  The highest rank I attained was sergeant, therefore, I was in the trenches day in and day out.  I saw first hand how the higher ranking members shrugged off our requests for a step up in gang crime enforcement and even went so far as to deny we had gang problems.  I saw how drug trafficking and violent crime was the handiwork of street gangs yet no one at the top would admit it.  For how dare they admit to such a problem in our fair city.
Fear will cripple and paralyze like nothing else.  And that is what is happening ladies and gentlemen.  Fear of the unknown, fear of the wolf, fear of being exposed.  Why is it that gangs, who are public enemy number 1, get little attention from administrations, the press, the public?  It is because we don't know them.

I decided in 2007 to get to know them so I got trained by the best gang man I've ever met or even heard of.  His name is Denny Davis and he is second to  none.  The knowledge I gained led to phenomenal results on the street.  The veil was lifted and the dirt exposed.  So were those dirty little secrets of some of the so called "elite" members of our community.  Then it all started to make sense.

This is my first post but it won't be the last.  If you are interested in learning about gangs and how to degrade them stay tuned in for future posts.  Denny and I will each write on this blog and be it known  that we won't sugar coat, we keep it real.