June 21, 2009 By Jim McKay, Justice and Public Safety Editor
Drugs are problem No. 1 for Massachusetts law enforcement agencies, but gangs are second and gaining ground.
Officials there are countering with a statewide database called MassGangs that collects information about gangs and allows access to information from neighboring jurisdictions. The database breaks the barriers to information sharing that previously inhibited gang investigations.
"The gangs in Massachusetts are very transient," said Lowell Police Department Sgt. David Peaslee. "They travel from city to city here very fluently." He said if he suspects someone is a gang member, he has to call around and have different departments check their individual databases for information. The MassGangs database will eliminate that legwork by allowing officers to access and search data themselves.
Once the system is populated with data, it will link information gathered by various agencies, including the Massachusetts Department of Correction. Rollout of the system began in January, and the process was well under way in late March as determinations were being made about the participation of federal partners.
The system was funded by a $2 million federal Bureau of Justice Assistance grant from fiscal 2006. Investigators from the Massachusetts State Police, FBI and several local police departments contributed to the database's development.
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