Police Commissioner Raymond
Kelly said Tuesday that he's doubling the number of detectives assigned to
combating local teen gangs and that increased surveillance of social networks
will be a major part of the strategy.
The gangs under scrutiny are
not the big, established outfits like the Bloods and Crips, which are well
known around the United States, but neighborhood groups fighting over loyalties
often to just one part of a housing project or other limited turf.
"Under a program we've
named Operation Crew Cut, the Department intends to double the size of its Gang
Division from approximately 150 detectives to 300 phased in over a period of
time," Kelly said in prepared remarks to a police conference in San Diego,
California.
The propensity of the social
media addicted youths to use Facebook and other networks to "brag about
their murderous exploits" means detectives will be watching their screens,
as much as the streets.
"In addition to tracking
the admissions of criminal conduct and plans of future crimes by crew members
on Facebook, You Tube and elsewhere, the division will be responsible for
maintaining a dictionary of sorts with a continually updated lexicon employed
by crews as a kind of code," Kelly said.
Officers will infiltrate gangs
under online aliases registered with their superiors. They will also be allowed
to use untraceable Internet cards on their laptops.
Kelly, who runs one of the
world's most technologically advanced police departments, with a rapidly
growing surveillance capability, said measures were being taken to ensure that
monitoring the networks does not go too far.
"Recently, we issued new
guidelines for officers using social media as part of criminal investigations.
We did this to instill the proper balance between the investigative potential
of social network sites and privacy expectations," he said.
The initiative reflects a shift
in crime away from murder, which is down 18 percent so far this year, Kelly
said.
However, overall crime is up
four percent, largely due to a wave of teen-on-teen thefts, especially
involving iPods and other Apple products.
"Like the impact on the
economy itself, the allure of Apple devices has affected New York City's crime
rate," Kelly said. "In 2002, we recorded a total of 86 thefts of
Apple products in all of New York City. Last year that number was 13,233."
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