Report 2015-130 Recommendation 11 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 #11 To: Justice, Department of

As the Legislature considers creating a public program for shared gang database oversight and accountability, Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight. The guidance Justice provides to the board and the committee should address, but not be limited to, instructing user agencies that use CalGang to complete a comprehensive review of all the gangs documented in CalGang to determine if they meet the necessary requirements for inclusion and to purge from CalGang any groups that do not meet the requirements. Justice should guide the board and the committee to ensure that user agencies complete this review in phases, with the final phase to be completed by June 30, 2018.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2022

Per section 755.8 of The Department of Justice Regulations for the Fair and Accurate Governance of the CalGang Database, all gangs currently in the system will be audited by October 22, 2023. Any gangs that do not meet the requirements will be purged. In January 2021, the DOJ initiated the first annual randomized gang audit and several agencies have already completed their audits. Agencies have until October 22nd of each reporting year to report their results to the DOJ. Results of the gang audits are included in the Attorney General's Annual Report on CalGang in February of the following year. Although the new audit cycle began in year 2021, we consider our response to Recommendation 11 to be fully implemented upon completion of the third year audit (i.e., October 2023), since it is a three-year audit cycle. DOJ has implemented the intent of this recommendation, by including the requirement for agencies to review all gangs in the CalGang database by October 2023, and by documenting this requirement in the above-mentioned regulations. DOJ continues to work with agencies to ensure the regulatory requirement will be met by all agencies by October 2023.

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

As we indicated in our previous evaluations of this recommendation, we will consider this recommendation fully implemented when DOJ can demonstrate that all user agencies of CalGang have completed their reviews of the gangs in the database and have purged any gangs that do not meet relevant requirements. As DOJ indicated in its response, this important step to ensuring the validity of CalGang is not anticipated to be completed until October 2023--approximately five years beyond the date our recommendation suggested.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2021

Per section 755.8 of the regulations, all gangs currently in the system will be audited by 2023. Any gangs that do not meet the requirements will be purged. In January 2021, the DOJ kicked off the first annual randomized gang audit and several agencies have already completed their audits. Agencies have until September 10, 2021, to report their results to the DOJ. Results of the gang audits will be included in the Attorney General's Annual Report on CalGang in the beginning of 2022.

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

Based on DOJ's response, this recommendation will not be fully implemented until sometime in 2023.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2020

Since the last update, the DOJ has continued to instruct Node Administrators to reach out to their user agencies to review gangs, perform data clean-up efforts, and to begin input of all information that will be required once the regulations become effective. The DOJ also reiterated that gangs that did not meet the necessary requirements should be purged from the CalGang database.

The new regulations require gang audits to be conducted (1) at least once every three years from the effective date of the regulations, (2) within three years of the gang being designated in the CalGang database, or (3) three years from the last audit conducted by the DOJ or user agency self-audit. At the September 2020 CGNAC meeting, a gang audit standard operating procedure was shared with Node Administrators and made available on the California Law Enforcement Web (CLEW) for access to all users.

Together with changes made to the system due to new regulations and larger data clean-up efforts, the DOJ is making changes to the gang pages in the CalGang database, which will help with standardization and ensure that requirements are met and easily audited technologically.

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

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2020

Since the last update was provided, the DOJ has continued to instruct Node Administrators to reach out to their user agencies to review gangs, perform data clean-up efforts, and to begin system input of all necessary information that will be required once the regulations become effective. The DOJ also reiterated that gangs that did not meet the necessary requirements should be purged.

The regulations, will require gang audits to be conducted (1) at least once every three years from the effective date of the regulations, (2) within three years of the gang being designated in the CalGang database, or (3) three years from the last audit conducted by the DOJ or user agency self-audit.

Together with changes made to the system due to new regulations and larger data clean-up efforts, the DOJ is making changes to the gang pages in the system which will help with standardization and ensure that requirements are met and easily audited within the system. Upon completion of the regulations, DOJ will develop a gang audit standard operating procedure that will be shared with user agencies.

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

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2019

The DOJ is working with user agencies to complete a comprehensive review of all the documented gangs in CalGang to determine if they meet the member count and reasonable suspicion requirements for inclusion during the thrice-annual CGNAC audits. Specifically, the DOJ held a working session at the September 2019 CGNAC meeting to develop a business action plan to implement California Code of Regulation (CCR) Section 755.6 of the proposed regulations, addressing audits of criminal street gangs.

The proposed regulations define "reasonable suspicion" and require Node Administrators to conduct comprehensive audits of criminal street gangs no less than three times per year. Audits will ensure that there are no fewer than three gang members and that sufficient reasonable suspicion exists and is documented for the criminal street gang. Gangs that have fewer than three members and/or lack sufficient documentation of reasonable suspicion will be purged from the database. Gangs with more than three members shall be audited for sufficient reasonable suspicion documentation every five years from the date of its last audit to ensure that it complies with the criteria set forth by CCR Section 753. Implementation is dependent upon the regulations being approved.

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

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2019

The DOJ is working with user agencies to complete a comprehensive review of all the documented gangs in CalGang to determine if they meet the count and reasonable suspicion requirements for inclusion during the thrice-annual CGNAC audits. Specifically, the DOJ will hold a working session at the September 2019 CGNAC meeting to develop a business action plan to implement California Code of Regulation (CCR) Section 755.6, audits of criminal street gangs, of the proposed regulations.

The proposed regulations define "reasonable suspicion" and require node administrators to conduct comprehensive audits of criminal street gangs no less than three times per year. Audits will ensure that there are no fewer than three gang members and that sufficient reasonable suspicion exists and is documented for the criminal street gang. Gangs that have fewer than three members and/or lack sufficient documentation of reasonable suspicion will be purged from the database. Gangs with more than three members shall be audited for sufficient reasonable suspicion documentation every five years from the date of its last audit to ensure that it complies with the criteria set forth by CCR Section 753. Implementation is dependent upon the regulation being approved.

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

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2018

AB 90, also known as the Fair and Accurate Gang Database Act of 2017, went into effect January 1, 2018, and provided the DOJ with the responsibility to "administer and oversee the CalGang database." Since this mandate went into effect, the DOJ has been working with the user agencies to complete a comprehensive review of all the documented gangs within the CalGang database to determine if they meet the requirements for inclusion. These reviews are included during audits conducted by the California Gang Node Advisory Committee, which occur three times per year.

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

Justice has demonstrated that the user agencies are evaluating gangs to ensure that those with fewer than three members are removed from CalGang. However, user agencies reviewed data for gang size before the audit and a review of that nature does not address the issue underlying our recommendation. As we state in the audit report, in addition to size, reasonable suspicion is an element that has to be present to justify a gang's inclusion in CalGang. The user agencies have to confirm that reasonable suspicion exists for gangs of all sizes, and Justice has not substantiated that a review of that nature for each gang has taken place.

1-Year Agency Response

At the California Gang Node Advisory Committee and CalGang Executive Board meeting in May 2017, Justice inquired as to whether a timeline for completion of each phase had been completed and requested a written update on the progress toward completing each review, by node and agency, prior to each quarterly meeting. As of August 2017, neither had been provided. The committee stated that user agencies are reviewing all gangs in CalGang with three or less members and purging those that do not meet the defined gang criteria.

Additionally, since the introduction of AB 90 and SB 505, both of which would implement the recommendations of the audit, Justice has been involved in conversations with the authors' offices, providing technical guidance and suggestions as to best ways to implement.

Justice received funding and position authority from the Legislature for enhancements to the CalGang system with the FY 2017-18 budget; however, Justice will have no authority to implement the recommendations made by the CSA until legislation is passed. Justice will continue to work with the board and committee until express authority is granted by the Legislature.

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

6-Month Agency Response

Justice discussed this recommendation with the attendees at the CalGang Executive Board meeting in September 2016 and recommended that the board establish a plan that would include timelines for each phase of the required review to ensure the completion of this recommendation. At the recent California Gang Node Advisory Committee and CalGang Executive Board meeting in February 2017, Justice inquired as to whether a timeline for completion of each phase has been completed and requested a written update on the progress toward completing each review, by node and agency, prior to each quarterly meeting. The Advisory Committee stated that it is developing a plan to provide for the auditing of records by other user agencies. Agencies discussed obtaining assistance from their internal Audit Divisions to assist in establishing proper audit protocol and procedures.

Justice currently has no existing authority, resources or program in place to handle oversight or administration of CalGang, however, Justice has begun dialogue with the board on each recommendation and will do everything possible to begin implementation until additional resources and funding are granted to the department.

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

60-Day Agency Response

Justice management attended the CalGang Executive Board meeting in September 2016 and recommended that the board establish a plan that would include timelines for each phase of the required review to ensure the completion of this recommendation. Justice will follow-up with the board periodically to discuss progress of this recommendation, provide guidance and feedback, and help to ensure completion of each phase.

Justice currently has no existing resources or program in place to handle oversight or administration of CalGang, however, the department has begun dialogue with the board on each recommendation and will do everything possible to begin implementation until additional resources and funding are granted to the department.

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

All Recommendations in 2015-130

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.