City to vote on assault rifle buy Cops want an M-4 in every patrol car

By Timothy Roberts


Members of the El Paso City Council appear to favor the purchase of over 1,000 assault rifles for the police department, which says it needs them to protect the city from increasingly better armed criminals.

The council will be asked on Tuesday to approve the purchase of 1,145 assault rifles at a cost of $772,646. That would supply all patrol officers with the civilian version of the M-4 military rifle. The lowest bid is from recommended bidder GT Distributors Inc. of Austin.

The money would come from a federal grant of up to $899,287, funds targeted at stimulating the economy.

The case for the purchase is usually couched in terms of the drug-cartel violence in Juárez.

“We definitely don’t want our police officers to be outgunned by any cartel operatives who might come over to El Paso,” says El Paso Mayor John Cook.

But in the wake of shootings at Fort Hood and incidents here involving soldiers, some council members say they are also concerned about errant soldiers.

Peter Pacillas, assistant chief for training and special operations, does not single out soldiers for concern. He says, “Anybody who has the capability of using a high-caliber weapon is a concern for us.”

Gun seizures
Three incidents in El Paso involving soldiers last year underscore those concerns. In each, soldiers used handguns, but police say the logical defense would be a rifle capable of shooting accurately over a significant distance.

Last April, a Chapin High School student was killed by a solider who was firing from across the street. The soldier, according to the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, used a handgun. He was charged with murder.

In August, a solider was charged with shooting another solider at an El Paso bar. That, too involved a hand gun, according to the CID.

But perhaps the most notorious case cam in June, when an 18-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Bliss was charged in connection with the contract killing of a Mexican drug cartel lieutenant who also was a police informant. According to the El Paso Police Department, Michael Jackson Apodaca used a semi-automatic handgun.

According to statistics kept by the police department, the total number of guns seized by the police during searches and arrests has dropped over the last three years. What is worrisome, police say, is the increase in the percentage of those guns that are automatic or semi-automatic. Being able to fire more lead in a short period of time makes the criminal more dangerous.

Police seized 287 weapons in 2007, 265 in 2008 and only 253 in 2009. But the percentage of those weapons that are automatic or semi-automatic rose from 46.7 percent in 2007, to 50.2 percent in 2008, and to 59.7 percent in 2009.

“I feel comfortable with the request,” says Beto O’Rourke, city representative for the Westside District 8. “We are not trying to outgun the people with guns in our community, but to protect the public.”

Gang worries
Susie Byrd, District 2 representative, says she still has some questions.

“You always want police to approach any situation with an abundance of caution,” she says. “Having big assault rifles might embolden less cautious behavior.”

But she says she also worries about the violence across the border and the possible impact of military gangs.

According to the National Gang Threat Assessment for 2009, issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, the number of gang members who are in or who have come out of the military is unknown.

But, the report says, “the threat that (gang members with military training) pose to law enforcement is potentially significant, particularly if gang members trained in weapons, tactics and planning pass this instruction on to other gang members.”

A spokesman for the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division acknowledges the presence of criminal gangs in the military, but says the problem is not rampant.

“We certainly recognize this is a serious issue, and each incident or credible allegation will be fully investigated,” says Chris Grey, Army CID chief of public affairs.

The population increase caused by expansion at Fort Bliss may become a factor in crime levels, says city Rep. Steve Ortega, District 7.

“If you add to that a population coming back from an extremely violent environment integrating with the civilian population, we want to make sure that the police department has all the resources it needs to make us the safest city in the nation.”

For West Side District 1 Rep. Ann Morgan Lilly, the decision was relatively easy.

“If the police are asking for them (the assault rifles) and need them, that’s OK,” she says. “(Police Chief) Greg Allen never asks for anything he doesn’t need.”

If council approves the purchase, the M-4s could be here in 90 days. Police officials say all officers will receive 40 hours of training before putting the weapons in the locked racks of their patrol car trunks.

http://elpasoinc.com/readArticle.aspx?issueid=267&xrec=4835

DoDs New Rules for Gangs in the Military (not a good idea)

The DoD recently followed Congress' directive by instruction for "Handling Dissent and Protest Activities Among Members of the Armed Forces."

Under the revised instructions,contained in the NEW DoD Instruction:

"Military personnel must not actively advocate supremacist doctrine, ideology, or causes, including those that advance, encourage, or advocate illegal discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, religion, ethnicity, or national origin or that advance,encourage, or advocate the use of force, violence, or criminal activity or otherwise advance efforts to deprive individuals of their civil rights."

And then there's a very short part about gang affiliations:

"Military personnel must reject active participation in criminal gangs pursuant to section 544 of Public Law 110-181 and in other organizations that advocate supremacist doctrine, ideology, or causes; attempt to create illegal discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, religion, ethnicity, or national origin; advocate the use of force, violence, or criminal activity; or otherwise engage in efforts to deprive individuals of their civil rights.

Active participation in such gangs or organizations is prohibited.

Active participation includes, but is not limited to, fundraising; demonstrating or rallying; recruiting, training, organizing, or leading members; distributing material (including posting on-line); or otherwise engaging in activities in furtherance of the objective of such gangs or organizations that are detrimental to good order, discipline, or mission accomplishment or are incompatible with military service."

That's it -- just wordsmithing . . . wow, and we waited a year and a half for that!

As noted in Can you prevent membership in organized criminal groups if you are the SecDef?, H.R. 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 Section 544 - became law (Public Law 110-181), and required the Secretary of Defense to prescribe regulations to prohibit the active participation of military personnel in street gangs (National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA], 2008, Sec. 544). The bill was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President back in January 2008, and it took until November 2009 to make it happen.

Yes, I realize there were other priorities, but at least we could do something that had a chance of working.

Legislative efforts to prohibit street gang members from joining the military were initially added to a defense-spending bill (Public Law 110-181, 2008). The legislation included the provision to add active membership in a street gang to the standing prohibition against active group membership by military members in extremist groups. The legislation was intended to extend the prohibitions of Department of Defense (DoD) Directive 1325.6, which has its history in preventing members of organizations considered subversive and openly anti-government from joining the military in the interests of the national security (Executive Order 10450, 1953). The history of this recent legislation demonstrates a lack of understanding of the requirements for limiting the negative impact of gangs on military communities.

Here's the problem.

At the time the directive was initially published in 1969, the DoD was concerned with the infiltration of anti-war and anti-military organizations. The directive focused on dissident and protest activities within the military, and especially on activities such as underground newspapers, on-post demonstrations, and serviceman organizations.

In 1986, the Secretary of Defense updated the directive. The directive's language prohibited "active" participation in "extremist organizations." This comes from language in Executive Order (EO) 11,785 issued in 1953, during the height of the Cold War, when the government feared Communist infiltration. It was later changed to forbid designating any groups as "totalitarian, fascist, Communist, or subversive" and forbade any circulation or publication of a list of such groups.

I was part of a small group of investigators who saw a gang problem in the military in the early 1990s.

We had problems linking the directive to gangs because of it's history (originally launched from an Executive Order (EO 10,450: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/10450.html) prohibiting communist groups from infiltrating, then war protesters, now extremists.

It's pretty clear what actions they wanted to prohibit when they ask "whether the employment or retention in employment in the Federal service of the person being investigated is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security. . . not limited to:

(1) Depending on the relation of the Government employment to the national security:

(i) Any behavior, activities, or associations which tend to show that the individual is not reliable or trustworthy.

(ii) Any deliberate misrepresentations, falsifications, or omissions of material facts.

(iii) Any criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct, habitual use of intoxicants to excess, drug addiction, sexual perversion.

(iv) Any illness, including any mental condition, of a nature which in the opinion of competent medical authority may cause significant defect in the judgment or reliability of the employee, with due regard to the transient or continuing effect of the illness and the medical findings in such case.

(v) Any facts which furnish reason to believe that the individual may be subjected to coercion, influence, or pressure which may cause him to act contrary to the best interests of the national security.

(2) Commission of any act of sabotage, espionage, treason, or sedition, or attempts thereat or preparation therefore, or conspiring with, or aiding or abetting, another to commit or attempt to commit any act of sabotage, espionage, treason, or sedition.

(3) Establishing or continuing a sympathetic association with a saboteur, spy, traitor, seditionist, anarchist, or revolutionist, or with an espionage or other secret agent or representative of a foreign nation, or any representative of a foreign nation whose interests may be inimical to the interests of the United States, or with any person who advocates the use of force or violence to overthrow the government of the United States or the alteration of the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means.

(4) Advocacy of use of force or violence to overthrow the government of the United States, or of the alteration of the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means.

(5) Knowing membership with the specific intent of furthering the aims of, or adherence to and active participation in, any foreign or domestic organization, association, movement, group, or combination of persons (hereinafter referred to as organizations) which unlawfully advocates or practices the commission of acts of force or violence to prevent others from exercising their rights under the Constitution or laws of the United States or of any State, or which seeks to overthrow the Government of the United States or any State or subdivision thereof by unlawful means.

(6) Intentional, unauthorized disclosure to any person of security information, or of other information disclosure of which is prohibited by law, or willful violation or disregard of security regulations.

(7) Performing or attempting to perform his duties, or otherwise acting, so as to serve the interests of another government in preference to the interests of the United States.

(8) Refusal by the individual, upon the ground of constitutional privilege against self-incrimination, to testify before a congressional committee regarding charges of his alleged disloyalty or other misconduct.

Note that nowhere in the document is the word "gang" used.

There is and should be a difference between keeping up with people who think that folks of another race are worthless and those who form groups with the intent of committing crime . . .

So now the DoD Reissues DoD Directive 1325.6 as a DoD Instruction. It also contains prohibitions against writing Web sites, BLOGS, and other electronic communications) during duty hours. I can definitely see a connection!

What do you think?

Drug cartels exploiting gang connections within U.S. military

By BELO Border Bureau Chief Angela Kocherga Posted: Nov 26, 2009 12:20 PM

EL PASO -- Law enforcement authorities are concerned the influence of warring Mexican drug cartels may now be penetrating the U.S. military.

Retired Border Patrol agent David Jackson flips through pictures of last Christmas. "This is Mike," he said, referring to his grandchild, Michael Jackson Apodaca.

David tells ABC-7 he encouraged Michael to join the military. "We talked him into going in the military just to get him away from this environment," he said.

However, Michael's past caught up to him this summer. He's now facing capital murder charges for the alleged contract killing of a drug cartel informant in El Paso. "They picked him because of his background," said David. "Before of he joined the military he was a member of a gang, the East Side whatever."

Michael's case raises disturbing questions about drug cartels exploiting gang ties within the U.S. Military. The Department of Defense does not deny there are gang members within the ranks but stresses they're a small percentage of troops.

The U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Division claims the cases only add up to a "few dozen" felony-level criminal cases worldwide during the last couple of years.

It may be a small number, but there is still a big concern when it comes to gangs. "The troubling trend is that if you do have former, active duty or reserve military that are engaging in this kind of activity," said Fred Burton, with Stratfor Global Intelligence. "It brings a level of discipline as well as military training and military bearing.

The Department of Justice highlights this very issue in it's National Gang Threat Assessment report for 2009. Local law enforcement authorities and gang experts echo the concern.

"What's even more dangerous in this situation is you have people who have been trained and actually seasoned by combat itself," said El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen. "With that potential in place, we have to definitely pay attention to it and stay on top of it."

Investigators said the suspected gunman at a recent shooting at a popular El Paso nightspot was a Fort Bliss soldier. His two alleged victims, also soldiers on post.

Similar cases may become more common along with the growth and expansion at Fort Bliss. The army will add 13,000 soldiers to the El Paso post in the next few years. The expansion comes as drug cartels fight a bloody turf war just across the border in Juarez.

"We have enough isolated cases of U.S. military personal being engaged with these gangs and cartels to indicate that it's a troubling trend that's developing," said Burton. "It's certainly something the U.S. military needs to keep an eye on."

The military has banned all personnel from traveling to Mexican border towns, but that did not stop a Holloman Airforce Base staff sergeant from visiting this strip club. David Booher was among six people gunned down there in early November.

Investigators in Mexico took the unusual step of providing a diagram of the crime scene. The hitmen killed 5 people in the main bar and shot the U.S. Airman in a VIP room upstairs.

"What was he doing there to begin with," asked Burton.

Mexican authorities who participated in the arrest of two hitmen linked to the bar shooting said the suspects are part of a hit squad that carried out the strip club killings.

Back in El Paso, David questions the evidence used to indict his 18-year-old grandchild. "They left his car open for 12 hours and said they found evidence there," he said.

Now, the young soldier who seemed to have made a fresh start waits for his day in court behind bars.

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=11577972

Presenting at the 2009 Gang Violence Summit

2009 Gang Violence Summit held October 5-6, 2009 in Washington, D.C..

http://www.performanceweb.org/2009/01/02/the-2009-gang-violence-summit/

Gangs and the Military
(armed forces, air force, army, navy, marines, coast guard)

* Gain an overview of the history and emerging trends associated with dual enlistment (gang and military)
* Identify the unique threat that gang members with military training pose to law enforcement as a result of their military training
* Employ tactics to keep your community safe from discharged gang members and their use of military warfare tactics on the streets

Handout Gitm 2009 Gvs

View more presentations from Carter Smith.

Presenting at The Investigative Roundtable On Organized Crime 2009 Conference

9/21/09 Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Gangs in the Military
(armed forces, air force, army, navy, marines, coast guard)

Contemporary gangs have been strategically infiltrating military communities around the world since the late 1980's. When gang members are allowed to join the military, they are treated just like other service members – no debriefings, no watch list, and no warnings to local military law enforcement. Is “Don’t Ask / Don’t Tell” the right policy for gangs in the military? How can we ensure gang members are not able to use military urban warfare tactics on our city streets?

This session will provide an overview of the issues associated with the enlistment of past and present gang members in the U.S. Armed Forces and provide recommendations for local, state and federal law enforcement and communities. We will examine the myths and truths associated with dual (gang and military) service, and discuss recommendations for the communities where these individuals go after they are discharged.

Gangs and Hi-Tech Communication

The younger generation in our country cannot remember life without cell phones, CD’s or an email address, and many don’t even use CD’s and email anymore. Many gang members are a part of this generation. Do we know how they communicate? As gangs evolve, they take on more of a business model than they had when they started. How does this affect the way we should investigate them? Do we include the right information on our search warrants? Do we know what our crime labs are capable of finding? In this session, we will review the past, examine the present, and look into the future to see how gangs make contact with each other, what they can talk about without us knowing, and why we need to know how to intercept or at least discover what was said after the fact.

Target Atlanta’s gangs with lessons learned in Baghdad

By Kyle Mallinak

7:54 p.m. Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Street gangs in the Atlanta metro area have earned new attention from local government. Having accepted the existence of a gang problem, city officials are now working to formulate policy responses to restore public confidence and regain control over city neighborhoods.

While admitting the problem is an important first step to a successful gang control policy, the Atlanta Police Department now risks repeating the same policy mistakes that have led to failure throughout the country.

In statements to the AJC, police officials indicated that they would model their gang unit tactics on the methods used by the department’s Red Dog anti-drug unit. In addition, officials pointed to increased numbers of gang-related arrests as evidence of their commitment to solving the problem. Atlanta residents, however, should not confuse tough talk and quick arrests with real progress. A rush to embrace the methods of a controversial “war on drugs” is not the path to a successful gang control policy.

Except in rare cases, street gangs are not large mafia-style organizations. Instead, they are typically a small social network of mutual friends and acquaintances bound together by common aspirations or circumstances. Operating from within the protective cover of local neighborhoods, the gangs cannot be eradicated through large sweeps and blanket arrests. At best, these measures will keep low-level gang members off the streets for a few months; at worst, police harassment will turn casual friends of the gang into committed members and allow incarcerated local gang members to form connections with the thriving system of U.S. prison gangs.

Fortunately, Georgia has a large supply of professionals who know a better way to combat gangs. They are veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, currently based at Fort Stewart, Fort Benning and other installations.

These security experts, too, once tried to control violence through hard-nosed tactics. They aggressively patrolled the streets, filled large prisons to capacity and pursued armed fugitives in every corner of the country. But the level of violence continued to increase, and in the process Georgia saw some of its best citizens killed.

Their deaths, however, paved the way for better policies. They now know that the best way to eliminate violent social networks is to build trust with residents and develop local communities, while gathering intelligence about violent offenders.

If Atlanta is serious about containing and defeating its gang problem, it will use its veterans as a source of effective tactics and overall strategic principles. City officials should visit combat commanders, read recent Army field manuals and hear the stories of those who have experienced direct combat. An Army major with two tours in Iraq should have no problem explaining to his police counterpart why large-scale raids can be counterproductive, but his knowledge is useless as long as law enforcement remains committed to simplistic notions of gang control.

Atlanta has the chance to become a national leader in successful gang policy, but the city needs a commitment to move beyond the failed policies of the past. Knee-jerk bravado could not clear insurgents from Baghdad, and it will not clear gangs from the streets of Atlanta — no matter what the APD says.

Kyle Mallinak is a McNair scholar at the University of South Carolina.

Find this article at:

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/target-atlantas-gangs-with-134095.html

Weekend Shooting Is Military And Gang Related, Police Say

Derek Shore-KFOX News Reporter

Posted: 8:30 pm MDT September 1, 2009Updated: 9:23 pm MDT September 1, 2009
EL PASO, Texas -- After a Fort Bliss soldier was shot early Sunday morning near the popular Cincinnati area in West El Paso, police reveal the man accused of pulling the trigger is also a Fort Bliss soldier. Police are calling the shooting gang-related.

Spc. Frank Calderon was shot after an altercation at 32 Degrees bar on Mesa Street. Antonio Saunders, also a soldier, has been charged with shooting him. Sources tell KFOX that Saunders is also a member of the Bloods street gang.

With the future growth of Fort Bliss, there is fear police may have to deal with an increase in soldiers who are also gang members.

"Over the last couple of years, we've seen more of a problem than we have seen in past years," said Sgt. Reggie Moton, the head of the El Paso police gang task force.

But Moton claims soldiers in gangs are not any more or less dangerous.

"Over the last couple years, when we go out and we deal with the military people on the different cases that have come up, it's no different than what we deal with with other gang members," Moton said.

However, The National Gang Intelligence Center disagrees. In their 2009 gang assessment, the center said:

"Gang members with military training pose a unique threat to law enforcement personnel because of the distinctive military skills that they possess and their willingness to teach these skills to fellow gang members."

While the number of military members in gangs isn’t known, the assessment said the center has confirmed 19 gangs have military trained members in them. The gangs include the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings.

This isn’t the only organized crime that has been linked back to an El Paso soldier. Pfc. Michael Apodaca, a Fort Bliss soldier, is accused of drug cartel activity after he allegedly shot an ICE informant back in May.

Moton said he will work to stop any growing trends and do so with Fort Bliss’ help.

"As a matter, of fact they were involved in the case this past weekend. They came out and provided us help in this case," Moton said.

http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/20677659/detail.html