DPS Gitem Nabs 140+ Gang Members

On March 1st and 2nd 2006, the Arizona Department of Public Safety's Gang Intelligence and Team Enforcement Mission (GITEM) Unit, hosted a Tri-State impact detail which included law enforcement agencies from Arizona, Nevada and California. This detail involved DPS personnel assigned to GITEM, the State Vehicle Theft Task Force, DPS General Investigations Unit, DPS K-9 Unit, and the Highway Patrol Division. Also participating were personnel from Bullhead City Police Department, Kingman Police Department, Lake Havasu City Police Department, Mohave County Sheriff's Office, Las Vegas Metro Police Department, San Bernardino Sheriff's Office and the Nevada Department of Public Safety. The goal of this detail was to impact gang activity through arrest and enforcement in the cities of: Kingman, Bullhead City, Lake Havasu City, Needles, California and Laughlin Nevada. Throughout the two day detail, over one hundred officers took part in three different phases of enforcement: ¢The first phase was a round-up of between 100 and 140 wanted known gang members and career criminals. These individuals were located, identified and arrested for various outstanding criminal warrants. ¢The second phase involved community oriented policing which included both directed and casual contact with the public in an attempt to obtain intelligence and other information on gang members and gang activity. ¢The third phase involved zero-tolerance saturation patrols in which officer and deputies worked together in these communities to display an elevated multi-agency police presence and worked an aggressive gang enforcement operation. The significant impact on gang members and gang activity in these rural communities proved to be a huge success due to the cooperative efforts of the various law enforcement agencies involved and the coordinated enforcement operations, which were able to reach across city, county and state lines.