Colorado § 24-33.5-415.3 - Information on gangs - legislative declaration.

§ 24-33.5-415.3. Information on gangs - legislative declaration.

(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:

(a) The proliferation of gangs and gang-related crimes is no longer merely a matter facing urban communities, and has become a matter of statewide concern;

(b) Gang activity involves a multitude of crimes, and illegal drug use and drug-trafficking constitute common factors associated with all gang-related activities and in the continuing pattern of gang-related violence;

(c) While the primary responsibility for law enforcement rests with local police and sheriffs' departments, drugs and drug-related crimes and gang-related criminal activity resulting therefrom have placed an overwhelming burden on the existing resources of all law enforcement agencies, especially rural departments. Therefore, the state has an obligation to make additional support available to local law enforcement through increased assistance in the investigation of narcotics and dangerous drug law violations; expanded training of local officers to improve their ability to interdict the sale and use of drugs in their communities; increased ability to assist in seizing moneys and properties utilized in drug transactions; improved forensic laboratory capability for the quantification and qualitative analysis of narcotics and dangerous drugs; and enhanced capability to collect, analyze, and disseminate information on drug and gang-related criminal activity.

(d) In order to contain the spread of gang violence, the development of a computerized data base tracking system is necessary to improve the consistency of data shared by the different law enforcement and judicial elements of the criminal justice system, both within the state and among various states confronted with similar gang violence.

(2) For the purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires, "gang" means a group of three or more individuals with a common interest, bond, or activity characterized by criminal or delinquent conduct.

(3) To aid in the identification and location of gangs and gang members and to prevent recruitment of new gang members from both the population in general and persons in the custody of the department of corrections and the department of human services, the Colorado bureau of investigation shall develop and maintain a computerized database system which tracks the whereabouts of identified gang members. Such database shall be compiled from reports submitted to the bureau pursuant to section 16-21-103, C.R.S. Such information shall include the following:

(a) The person's name, along with any aliases;

(b) The person's last-known address;

(c) The person's date of birth;

(d) The date of any arrest and the arrest numbers, the investigating agency's case number, the final disposition of any criminal case filed with a court, and the court number;

(e) Any information relevant to the person's association or affiliation with a gang or with gang activities.

(4) The bureau shall make every reasonable effort to locate and cooperate with other such databases in the United States in order to track gangs and gang members involved in interstate activities.

Source: L. 89: Entire section added, p. 873, § 4, effective June 5. L. 94: IP(3) amended, p. 2695, § 236, effective July 1. L. 95: IP(3) amended, p. 949, § 7, effective July 1.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration contained in the 1995 act amending the introductory portion to subsection (3), see section 1 of chapter 198, Session Laws of Colorado 1995.