Weber Responds to Damning CalGang Audit

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SACRAMENTO Assemblymember Shirley N. Weber (D-San Diego) responded to a State Auditor’s report released Thursday that confirmed growing concerns about the accuracy and transparency of CalGang, the database of information about gangs and gang members used statewide by law enforcement.

“Unfortunately, this is worse than I thought,” Weber said. “We suspected that there were people in the database who shouldn’t be there, but the audit found that law-enforcement agencies were apparently identifying babies and toddlers as gang members.

“That alone would provide sufficient reason for legislative action, but the audit is also exhaustive in recounting CalGang’s non-compliance or inadequate compliance with state law, its insufficient justification for identifying individuals as gang members and its casual disregard for their privacy.”

State Auditor Elaine Howell released the report early Thursday, which included a thorough review of four law-enforcement agencies that contribute to the database.  The audit found that not only did CalGang fail to provide safeguards to ensure people placed on the database were actually gang members, but also that CalGang’s systemic problems actually compromised it as an effective law enforcement tool.

Weber, who initiated the report last year through the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, currently has pending legislation to address some of the database’s previously identified problems.

“AB 2298 is a first step, but the auditor’s findings show that we have underestimated the scope of the problem,” she said. “My staff and I are in the process of vetting the report’s recommendations and considering next steps.”

Among the findings were:

  • Failure to comply with requirements to protect individual privacy rights
  • Insufficient support for identifying individuals as gang members
  • Inadequate processes for reviewing and purging records
  • Lack of safeguards to ensure accuracy and security of CalGang records
  • Failure to appropriately notify juveniles before entering them on websites