Report 2015-130 Recommendations

As the Legislature considers creating a public program for shared gang database oversight and accountability, Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight. The guidance Justice provides to the board and the committee should address, but not be limited to, developing best practices based on the requirements stated in the federal regulations, the state guidelines and state law, and advising user agencies on the implementation of those practices. The best practices should include, but not be limited to reviewing criminal intelligence, appropriately disseminating information, performing robust audit practices, establishing plans to recover from disasters, and meeting all of the State's juvenile notification law requirements. Justice should guide the board and the committee to develop these best practices by June 30, 2017.

As the Legislature considers creating a public program for shared gang database oversight and accountability, Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight. The guidance Justice provides to the board and the committee should address, but not be limited to, instructing user agencies that use CalGang to complete a comprehensive review of all the gangs documented in CalGang to determine if they meet the necessary requirements for inclusion and to purge from CalGang any groups that do not meet the requirements. Justice should guide the board and the committee to ensure that user agencies complete this review in phases, with the final phase to be completed by June 30, 2018.

As the Legislature considers creating a public program for shared gang database oversight and accountability, Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight. The guidance Justice provides to the board and the committee should address, but not be limited to, instructing all user agencies to complete a comprehensive review of the records in CalGang to determine if the user agencies have adequate support for the criteria associated with all the individuals they have entered as gang members. If the user agencies do not have adequate support, they should immediately purge the criteria—and, if necessary, the individuals—from CalGang. In addition, the user agencies should ensure that all the fields in each CalGang record are accurate. Justice should guide the board and the committee to ensure that user agencies complete this review in phases, with the final phase to be completed by September 30, 2019.

As the Legislature considers creating a public program for shared gang database oversight and accountability, Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight. The guidance Justice provides to the board and the committee should address, but not be limited to, instructing all user agencies to report to Justice every six months, beginning in January 2017, on their progress toward completing their gang and gang member reviews.

As the Legislature considers creating a public program for shared gang database oversight and accountability, Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight. The guidance Justice provides to the board and the committee should address, but not be limited to, developing standardized periodic training content for all CalGang users and training instructors. Justice should guide the board and the committee to develop such standardized training content by June 30, 2017.

As the Legislature considers creating a public program for shared gang database oversight and accountability, Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight. The guidance Justice provides to the board and the committee should address, but not be limited to, establishing a plan to recertify all CalGang users and training instructors on the new training content. Justice should guide the board and the committee to complete the draft plan by June 30, 2017, and the recertification training by June 30, 2018.

As the Legislature considers creating a public program for shared gang database oversight and accountability, Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight. The guidance Justice provides to the board and the committee should address, but not be limited to, developing policies and procedures requiring the disabling of user accounts for all individuals who no longer have a need to or right to access CalGang because they have separated from their employment with user agencies or for other reasons. Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and disable all such accounts by September 30, 2016.

As the Legislature considers creating a public program for shared gang database oversight and accountability, Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight. The guidance Justice provides to the board and the committee should address, but not be limited to, determining what steps must be taken to upgrade CalGang's controls to ensure that CalGang will automatically purge all individuals whose records have not been updated by user agencies for five years.

To promote transparency and hold the board, the committee, and user agencies accountable for implementing and adhering to criminal intelligence safeguards, Justice should post quarterly reports on its website, beginning June 30, 2017, that summarize how it has guided the board and the committee to implement and adhere to criminal intelligence safeguards; the progress the board, the committee, and the user agencies have made in implementing and adhering to these safeguards; the steps these entities still must take to implement these safeguards; and any barriers to the board's and the committee's success in achieving these goals.

To promote transparency and encourage public participation in CalGang's meetings, Justice should post summary results from the committee's audits of CalGang records to its website unless doing so would compromise criminal intelligence information or other information that must be shielded from public release.

To promote transparency and encourage public participation in CalGang's meetings, Justice should post the agendas, minutes, and referenced attachments for all future board and committee meetings, as well as all other documents of significance such as letters, memos, or agreements to its website unless doing so would compromise criminal intelligence information or other information that must be shielded from public release.

To promote transparency and encourage public participation in CalGang's meetings, Justice should post from the past five years, all available agendas, minutes, and referenced attachments from scheduled and ad hoc board and committee meetings, as well as all other documents of significance. Justice should post these materials by October 31, 2016, to its website unless doing so would compromise criminal intelligence information or other information that must be shielded from public release.

If Justice believes it needs additional resources to guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight, to report on the board and committee's progress in addressing CalGang's shortcomings, and to post necessary information to its website, Justice should take steps to secure the resources it needs.

To ensure that CalGang, or any equivalent statewide shared gang database, has an oversight structure that supports accountability for proper database use and for protecting individuals' rights, the Legislature should designate Justice as the state agency responsible for administering and overseeing CalGang or any equivalent statewide shared gang database.

To ensure that CalGang, or any equivalent statewide shared gang database, has an oversight structure that supports accountability for proper database use and for protecting individuals' rights, the Legislature should require that CalGang or any equivalent statewide shared gang database adhere to federal regulations and relevant safeguards from the state guidelines, including supervisory reviews of database entries and regular reviews of all records.

To ensure that CalGang, or any equivalent statewide shared gang database, has an oversight structure that supports accountability for proper database use and for protecting individuals' rights, the Legislature should specify that Justice's oversight responsibilities include developing and implementing standardized periodic training as well as conducting—or hiring an external entity to conduct— periodic audits of CalGang or any equivalent statewide shared gang database.

To promote public participation in key issues that may affect California's citizens and to help ensure consistency in the use of any shared gang database, the Legislature should require Justice to interpret and implement shared gang database requirements through the regulatory process. This process should include public hearings and should address adopting requirements for entering and reviewing gang designations, including establishing a retention period for gangs.

To promote public participation in key issues that may affect California's citizens and to help ensure consistency in the use of any shared gang database, the Legislature should require Justice to interpret and implement shared gang database requirements through the regulatory process. This process should include public hearings and should address adopting criteria for identifying gang members. These criteria should define which offenses are consistent with gang activity.

To promote public participation in key issues that may affect California's citizens and to help ensure consistency in the use of any shared gang database, the Legislature should require Justice to interpret and implement shared gang database requirements through the regulatory process. This process should include public hearings and should address specifying how user agencies will operate any statewide shared gang database, including requiring user agencies to implement supervisory review procedures and periodic record reviews. The user agencies should report the results of the reviews to Justice.

To promote public participation in key issues that may affect California's citizens and to help ensure consistency in the use of any shared gang database, the Legislature should require Justice to interpret and implement shared gang database requirements through the regulatory process. This process should include public hearings and should address standardizing practices for user agencies to adhere to the State's juvenile notification requirements, including guidelines for documenting and communicating the bases for juveniles' gang designations.

To ensure transparency, the Legislature should require Justice to publish an annual report with key shared gang database statistics—such as the number of individuals added to and removed from the database—and summary results from periodic audits conducted by Justice or an external entity. Further, the Legislature should require Justice to invite and assess public comments following the report's release. Subsequent annual reports should summarize any public comments Justice received and actions it took in response.

To help ensure that Justice has the technical information it needs to make certain that CalGang or any equivalent shared gang database remains an important law enforcement tool, the Legislature should establish a technical advisory committee to advise Justice about database use, database needs, database protection, and any necessary updates to policies and procedures. The Legislature should specify the qualifications for membership in the technical advisory committee, which should include representatives from local and state agencies that use the shared gang database. Further, it should require that the committee meet at least twice a year and adhere to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act and other relevant open-meeting laws.

Until the Los Angeles Police Department receives further direction from the board, the committee, or Justice, it should address the specific deficiencies we found by reviewing the gangs it has entered into CalGang to ensure the gangs meet reasonable suspicion requirements. It should also begin reviewing the gang members it has entered into CalGang to ensure the existence of proper support for each criterion. It should purge from CalGang any records for gangs or gang members that do not meet the criteria for entry. Individuals who are independent from the ongoing administration and use of CalGang should lead this review. The agency should complete the gang and gang member reviews in phases, with the final phase for gangs to be completed by June 30, 2018, and the final phase for gang members to be completed by June 30, 2019.

Until Los Angeles Police Department receives further direction from the board, the committee, or Justice, it should address the specific deficiencies we found by developing or modifying as necessary all its policies and procedures related to CalGang to ensure they align with state law, CalGang policy, the federal regulations, and the state guidelines. In particular, the agency should implement appropriate policies and procedures for entering gangs; performing supervisory reviews of gang and gang member entries; performing periodic CalGang record reviews; sharing CalGang information; and complying with juvenile notification requirements. The agency should complete this recommendation by March 31, 2017.

Until Santa Ana Police Department receives further direction from the board, the committee, or Justice, it should address the specific deficiencies we found by reviewing the gangs it has entered into CalGang to ensure the gangs meet reasonable suspicion requirements. It should also begin reviewing the gang members it has entered into CalGang to ensure the existence of proper support for each criterion. It should purge from CalGang any records for gangs or gang members that do not meet the criteria for entry. Individuals who are independent from the ongoing administration and use of CalGang should lead this review. The agency should complete the gang and gang member reviews in phases, with the final phase for gangs to be completed by June 30, 2018, and the final phase for gang members to be completed by June 30, 2019.

Until Santa Ana Police Department receives further direction from the board, the committee, or Justice, it should address the specific deficiencies we found by developing or modifying as necessary all its policies and procedures related to CalGang to ensure they align with state law, CalGang policy, the federal regulations, and the state guidelines. In particular, the agency should implement appropriate policies and procedures for entering gangs; performing supervisory reviews of gang and gang member entries; performing periodic CalGang record reviews; sharing CalGang information; and complying with juvenile notification requirements. The agency should complete this recommendation by March 31, 2017.

Until Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office receives further direction from the board, the committee, or Justice, it should address the specific deficiencies we found by reviewing the gangs it has entered into CalGang to ensure the gangs meet reasonable suspicion requirements. It should also begin reviewing the gang members it has entered into CalGang to ensure the existence of proper support for each criterion. It should purge from CalGang any records for gangs or gang members that do not meet the criteria for entry. Individuals who are independent from the ongoing administration and use of CalGang should lead this review. The agency should complete the gang and gang member reviews in phases, with the final phase for gangs to be completed by June 30, 2018, and the final phase for gang members to be completed by June 30, 2019.

Until Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office receives further direction from the board, the committee, or Justice, it should address the specific deficiencies we found by developing or modifying as necessary all its policies and procedures related to CalGang to ensure they align with state law, CalGang policy, the federal regulations, and the state guidelines. In particular, the agency should implement appropriate policies and procedures for entering gangs; performing supervisory reviews of gang and gang member entries; performing periodic CalGang record reviews; sharing CalGang information; and complying with juvenile notification requirements. The agency should complete this recommendation by March 31, 2017.

Until Sonoma County Sheriff's Office receives further direction from the board, the committee, or Justice, it should address the specific deficiencies we found by reviewing the gangs it has entered into CalGang to ensure the gangs meet reasonable suspicion requirements. It should also begin reviewing the gang members it has entered into CalGang to ensure the existence of proper support for each criterion. It should purge from CalGang any records for gangs or gang members that do not meet the criteria for entry. Individuals who are independent from the ongoing administration and use of CalGang should lead this review. The agency should complete the gang and gang member reviews in phases, with the final phase for gangs to be completed by June 30, 2018, and the final phase for gang members to be completed by June 30, 2019.

Until Sonoma County Sheriff's Office receives further direction from the board, the committee, or Justice, it should address the specific deficiencies we found by developing or modifying as necessary all its policies and procedures related to CalGang to ensure they align with state law, CalGang policy, the federal regulations, and the state guidelines. In particular, the agency should implement appropriate policies and procedures for entering gangs; performing supervisory reviews of gang and gang member entries; performing periodic CalGang record reviews; sharing CalGang information; and complying with juvenile notification requirements. The agency should complete this recommendation by March 31, 2017.