Unit 2 Security Threat Groups Lesson 1 PDF

Unit 2 Security Threat Groups Lesson 1 STG Characteristics Lesson Goal You will understand the basic characteristics, symbols, graffiti, colors, signs, tattoos, codes, and slang of security threat groups in a correctional facility. Think About This Gang activity causes many of the problems i...

Unit 2 Security Threat Groups Lesson 1 STG Characteristics Lesson Goal You will understand the basic characteristics, symbols, graffiti, colors, signs, tattoos, codes, and slang of security threat groups in a correctional facility. Think About This Gang activity causes many of the problems in a facility. Because of this, the Department of Correc- tions formed the Security Threat Group Initiative. The main goal of the STG Initiative is to reduce gang activity in facilities and keep staff, visitors, and inmates safe and secure. This lesson will help you identify and respond to gang activity in your facility. Security Threat Group ✅ CO721.1. Understand the link between a criminal gang and an STG According to s. 874.03, F.S., a criminal gang is a formal or informal ongoing organization, association, or group. The primary activities of a criminal gang are to commit criminal or delinquent acts. Criminal gangs consist of three or more people who have a common name or common identifying signs, colors, or symbols. Criminal gangs include, but are not limited to, terrorist organizations and hate groups. A security threat group (STG) is a criminal enterprise, or an organization of a continuing nature, that engages repeatedly in acts of crime individually, or collectively, and poses a safety or security threat within, as well as outside of, a correctional facility. STG is a term officers use to remove any glamour from being a member of a criminal gang and to diminish the power associated with being a gang member. Some inmates idolize the lifestyle of gang members, and the term STG makes being a member less appealing. STGs are a threat to the orderly operation of a correctional facility because the roots of their opera- tions are criminal. STGs can influence inmates and usually control the bulk of the contraband flow because of the extent of their membership. STGs can commit the same crimes in the facility they commit outside of the facility, such as extortion, gambling, prostitution, battery, assault, money laundering, drug smuggling, escape plots, robbery, and murder. ✅ CO721.2. Know the names of common STGs STGs represented in a correctional setting can include: 5%er Aryan Nations Aryan Brotherhood Black Gangster Disciples Chapter 7 Supervising Special Populations / 199  Black Guerrilla Family MS-13 Bloods Ñeta Crips Sur-XIII or Sur-13 Folk Nation White Supremacists Gangster Disciples Zoe Mafia Insane Gangster Disciples ✅ CO721.3. Know the basic characteristics of STGs Traditional STGs Traditional STGs have a documented history, a written set of laws or codes, and can have an orga- nizational structure. Some examples include the Latin Kings, Bloods, Crips, Aryan Brotherhood, Ku Klux Klan, MS-13, and SUR-13. These STGs often have a leadership structure (implicit or explicit), codes of conduct, colors, special dress, signs, and symbols. A traditional STG may vary in charac- teristics of age, gender, community, ethnicity, or generation, as well as in the scope and nature of its criminal activities. Non-traditional or Hybrid STGs Non-traditional STGs that do not fall under the criteria of a traditional STG can be without laws or code, but still have an organizational structure. Some examples include Haitian STGs, Jamaican Posse, Asian Pride, and Taking Over Your Shit (TOYS). Hybrid STGs form within schools, neighborhoods, or regions, and in youthful offender, juvenile, and adult correctional facilities. They are composed of members from other STGs, united to form one group, and associated with specific geographic areas or neighborhoods. Examples include Money Over Bitches Boyz (MOB Boyz), 704 (or local area codes), Zoe Mafia, and Guatemalans Taking Over (GTO). Transitional STGs Transitional STG members are individuals or a group of criminal gang members who come to prison and realign themselves with traditional and non-traditional STGs, or they can be hybrid STG members recruited by larger, traditional STGs. Female STGs Female inmates can be members of a typically male STG or members of an all-female STG. Female STGs can be similar to male STGs in structure. The female STG crime rate is low; however, when female STG members commit a crime, it is often violent. As the population of female inmates increases so does the female STG population. 200 / Florida Basic Recruit Training Program (CO): Volume 1 Prison-Based STGs Prison-based STGs originate within the prison system as opposed to most STGs that begin as gangs outside of prison, and they predominantly base their operations from within the prison system. Some examples include Mexican Mafia/LA EME, Aryan Brotherhood, Black Guerilla Family, Ñeta, Texas Syndicate, and Nuestra Familia. Extremists Extremists may act solo or as a group, follow an extreme ideology, such as faith- or belief-based, or anti-establishment, and are usually very tight-knit, unpredictable, and exclusive. There are similari- ties and differences among inmate behaviors displayed as religious belief, religious fanaticism, and extremism. Some examples of religious fanaticism and extremism include sovereign citizens, Jihad- ists, and Posse Comitatus. A solo or a lone inmate that subscribes to a specific extremist ideology can cause significant security concerns when they commit criminal acts individually, or individually as part of a group within or from outside the facility. STG Symbols, Graffiti, Colors, Signs, Tattoos Most correctional facilities have an STG coordinator who can provide additional information related to the symbols, graffiti, colors, signs, and tattoos of specific STGs. Officers using these STG symbols, gestures, graffiti, or alphabets as communication can potentially place themselves in a compromis- ing or dangerous situation. ✅ CO721.4. Know the symbols, graffiti, colors, signs, and tattoos of STGs Some STG symbols, graffiti, colors, signs, and tattoos may include: forming hand signs with the left or right hand wearing hats cocked or tilted to the left or right rolling up one pant leg untying one shoe resting the hand in a specific pocket wearing jewelry turned at an angle wearing specific color combinations (such as black/brown or blue/red) wearing identifiers or icons that appear in combination, such as a star and a crown, reveal- ing both the inmate’s alliance and the specific STG to which the inmate belongs using a common phrase, such as “All is one” or “All is well” using hand signals or graffiti in a certain direction, such as upside down or sideways as a sign of disrespect Chapter 7 Supervising Special Populations / 201