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Captain Dan Skibins stated, We know that social dynamics are a key factor in gun violence <br /> across the country, and that's no different here in South Bend. A large percentage of violence <br /> within our city is group-related violence. Groups of individuals are causing violent crime in the <br /> city. It doesn't matter if those groups are classified as gangs or not. It doesn't take a name to be <br /> violent, it takes certain individuals in the group that drive the violence in the group. We <br /> understand a group may be ten(10) or fifteen (15) people,but there are a small number within <br /> that group that drive the gun violence. In utilizing the strategy, one (1) of the most key factors is <br /> identifying the groups and members of the groups that are driving that violence. Without proper <br /> identification, how do we focus? Who are we focusing on? Are we doing what we did in the <br /> eighties (80's) and nineties (90's) where we saturated an area because we saw gun violence in <br /> particular areas? That is not actionable intel. To send officers out in an area like that, all they do <br /> is stop people and they just hope they are stopping the right people. Getting actionable intel to <br /> officers is the goal of identifying members of groups that drive the violence. We understand <br /> there is a `street code.' They are not willing to call the police because that hurts their status <br /> within their group out on the street. Maintaining status within these groups is very important and <br /> is a full-time occupation. There are also rivalries. For example, a large percentage of issues arise <br /> with ex-relationships and ex-girlfriends. So maybe one group has a member that was dating <br /> someone and they are now longer dating that person. Another group and an individual from that <br /> group is now dating that same someone, and this causes instant vendettas. Pluralistic ignorance <br /> creates immoral and unethical behavior as the norm. When we started this strategy three (3) <br /> years ago, it was crucial that we got together with our officers on the front lines and got critical <br /> intel from them, as well as the investigators that get the cases involving gun violence. Getting <br /> them all together in one room and identifying the individuals and groups causing the violence, <br /> jotting the names down and finding out the word on the street. We couple that with incident <br /> review. Now we have a road map of people who will potentially be shooters, or be shot at. By <br /> identifying these individuals three (3) years ago, we were able to start the strategy. Each week <br /> we have a strategy session and we go over the individuals that are involved in gun violence that <br /> week. This gives police the proper intel to combat gun violence. <br /> Clifford Johnson,First Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, <br /> stated, I would like to explain to you all how my office supports this strategy. All prosecutors <br /> and officers have limited resources and we can't prosecute everybody. Being from the federal <br /> government, we have limited jurisdiction. What we try to do is exercise our limited resources in <br /> our jurisdiction against those groups that have self-identified themselves as being either the <br /> worst or the first. The worst is the most violent and the first is the one that actually drops a body. <br /> Primarily, we focus on drug and gun enforcement. Selling and distributing drugs of any kind is a <br /> federal crime. We typically just focus on the larger distribution, but in support of the GVI effort <br /> we will take even the small effort to get violent group members off the street. Also, gun <br /> enforcement. Many of the people involved have prior criminal records. It's against the law for a <br /> felon to be in possession of a weapon. In conjunction with the County prosecutor, try to <br /> coordinate our limited resources to see where we can have the most impact against those persons <br /> who are driving the violence in the community. I would like to emphasize that we don't make up <br /> crimes. We don't fake cases. It's a question of how we bring them to task for the crimes they <br /> have committed. Collaboration is key between the federal, county, and municipal governments. <br /> We coordinate on two (2) concepts: where can we get the longest sentence for them? And we <br /> 2 <br />