Report 2015-130 Recommendation 23 Responses

Report 2015-130: The CalGang Criminal Intelligence System: As the Result of Its Weak Oversight Structure, It Contains Questionable Information That May Violate Individuals' Privacy Rights (Release Date: August 2016)

Recommendation #23 To: Los Angeles Police Department

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.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has not used the CalGang database since 2020. If LAPD ever uses it in the future, the LAPD will review files of gangs and gang members every year to ensure that they meet the minimum criteria for inclusion in the CalGang database.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Resolved

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2019

The LAPD continues to review files of gangs and gang members every year to ensure that they meet the minimum criteria for inclusion in the Cal Gang database. All gangs reviewed met criteria for inclusion, otherwise they were removed.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

Los Angeles describes gang and gang member records reviews that it has made, but it has not substantiated that it has reviewed all the records for gang and all gang members. In 2018 Los Angeles described a records review it performed to help lift the CalGang moratorium that was unrelated to the State Auditor's recommendations. It also mentioned periodic audits that revealed erroneous records. Its current response substantiates that Los Angeles continues to review records and find errors in its gang and gang member documentation. However, at this time, we are not confident that Los Angeles has implemented our recommendations and reviewed all of its gangs or all of the gang member records necessary to ensure that CalGang is free of erroneous records.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2018

On January 1, 2018, a moratorium was placed on the use of the Cal/Gang system. This moratorium was put into place as the result of Assembly Bill 90 (2017). The moratorium could not be lifted until the California Department of Justice (DOJ) could certify that the records contained within the database were accurate, and supporting documentation existed for the inclusion. Furthermore, that any records found to be non-compliant were removed from the database. During the review, the Department was found to be in 99% compliance with only one error. The one record, which was found to be non-compliant was removed from the database when the moratorium was lifted. The California Attorney General certified that the review had been completed and lifted the moratorium on March 29, 2018. The Department's Cal/Gang Node Administrator was provided a statistically valid random sample from the DOJ for the Department's population of suspected gang members and associates documented in the Cal/Gang database. The documents were reviewed by law enforcement personnel, that were not Department personnel, for accuracy and they were verified that the minimum criteria for inclusion was met. The Department was found to be in 98% compliance. Two of the records that were reviewed that were non-compliant were deleted by the Department's Cal/Gang Node Administrator. The inspections were reviewed by Department supervisory personnel. Records found to be non-compliant were removed from the database. During these audits, reviews were made of gangs that were in the database to determine if they met the minimum criteria to be entered into the database. Any gangs that didn't meet the minimum criteria were removed from the database. These reviews continue to occur, at a minimum of three times per year. The Department will continue to conduct periodic audits and inspections of Cal/Gang records, both internally as well as in conjunction with the DOJ.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

Los Angeles describes gang and gang member record reviews that it has made, but it has not substantiated that it has reviewed all the records for gangs and all gang members. The activities Los Angeles performed were to help lift the CalGang moratorium and are unrelated to the State Auditor's recommendations. Recent CalGang audits substantiate that Los Angeles's gang records still contain errors. Specifically, the results from Los Angeles's May 2018 CalGang records audit show that one of two gang member records had errors and had to be purged from CalGang. Thus, Los Angeles's review is incomplete and more records in CalGang contain errors. At this time, we are not confident that Los Angeles has implemented our recommendation and reviewed all of its gangs or all of the gang member records necessary to ensure that CalGang is free of erroneous records.

1-Year Agency Response

CSAO Recommendation 23 (a): Review gang members that have been entered in to Cal/Gang to ensure the existence of proper support for each criterion;

LAPD Action Taken: In progress. A statistically valid sample of gang members was calculated by Audit Division and submitted to the Node Administrator. The Node Administrator utilized a randomizer to select the gang member entries that were inspected.

Three of LAPD's four geographic bureaus have completed their gang member inspections. The fourth bureau's gang member inspection should be completed within the next quarter.

The Department will conduct a review of the findings and may require additional inspections.

CSAO Recommendation 23 (b): Purge from Cal/Gang any records for gangs or gang members that do not meet the criteria for entry;

LAPD Action Taken: Not yet implemented.

After results of the inspections have been reviewed by the Cal/Gang Node Administrator, any gangs or gang members that do not meet the criteria for inclusion in the database will be removed. The Cal/Gang Node Administrator will complete the removal.

CSAO Recommendation 23 (c): Complete gang and gang member reviews in phases with the final phase for gangs to be completed by June 30, 2018;

LAPD Action Taken: In progress.

CSAO Recommendation 23 (d): The final phase [review] for gang members to be completed by June 30, 2019.

LAPD Action Taken: In progress.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

CSAO Recommendation 23 (a): Review gang members that have been entered in to Cal/Gang to ensure the existence of proper support for each criterion;

LAPD Action Taken: In progress. A statistically valid sample size of gang members was calculated by Audit Division and submitted to the Node Administrator. The Node Administrator utilized a randomizer to select the gang member entries that will be inspected. It is anticipated that Bureau inspections will be completed by the end of April 2017. Following the Bureau inspections, the Department will conduct a review of the findings and may require additional inspections.

CSAO Recommendation 23 (b): Purge from Cal/Gang any records for gangs or gang members that do not meet the criteria for entry;

LAPD Action Taken: Not yet implemented.

After results of the inspections have been reviewed by the Cal/Gang Node Administrator, any gangs or gang members that do not meet the criteria for inclusion in the database will be removed. The Cal/Gang Node Administrator will complete the removal.

CSAO Recommendation 23 (c): Complete gang and gang member reviews in phases with the final phase for gangs to be completed by June 30, 2018;

LAPD Action Taken: In progress.

CSAO Recommendation 23 (d): The final phase [review] for gang members to be completed by June 30, 2019.

LAPD Action Taken: In progress.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

The first inspection is anticipated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2016. An inspection matrix was created for this inspection. Once approved by LAPD, the Office of Operations (OO) will be tasked with writing an Operations Order to ensure that Bureau Gang inspection teams conduct inspections. It was determined that a bureau wide, statistically valid sample be utilized for this recommendation and a separate inspection be conducted for juveniles. Results of those inspections will be forwarded to OO and then disseminated to GND.

After results have been reviewed by the Cal/Gang Node Administrator, any gangs or gang members that do not meet the criteria for inclusion in the database will be removed. The Cal/Gang Node Administrator will do removal.

Expanded review and Supervisory responsibilities will be detailed in a revised Special Order related to Special Order No. 15, May 22, 2013, (Cal/Gang System and Gang File Guidelines and Related Subsections). This will include a Department manual update. It is anticipated that the Matrices developed for the inspections will be approved for use at the upcoming bureau meeting in early October 2016.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2015-130

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.