Challenges Facing the Directorate of Criminal Investigation On Management of Criminal Gang Activities in Nairobi County, Kenya

This paper uses data collected for an MA Thesis on the challenges facing the Directorate of Criminal Investigation Department on management of criminal gang activities, in Nairobi County, Kenya. This study has been necessitated by continued concern among policymakers, security pundits and citizens about the rising criminal gang activities in the country, more pertinently in Nairobi County. Although there are few studies that tried to scratch this area, there has never been a detailed and systematic inquiry and analysis of this problem. The study was guided by several specific objectives; the first objective examined the tactical challenges that the police face in policing gang related activities in Nairobi County, Kenya; assessed the effect of corruption in undermining the war against gang related activities in Nairobi County, Kenya; and finally explored other technological challenges that the police face in policing gang related activities in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study adopted descriptive research design and purposive sampling technique to collect data. Interview schedules and key informants (K.I) guide were the main tools used to collect data using the interview method of data collection. 60 officers of the Special Crime Prevention Unit were the main respondents. Major challenges faced by the DCI officers when dealing with criminal gang activities especially within Nairobi County include; poor relationship between police and the general public as reported by 89.1% of the respondents, increased involvement of women in gang activities which is exacerbated by low ratio of female-male officers for undercover operations and 90.9%. of respondents indicated due to woman innocence will create a greater challenge. Others include; gang related activities with networks and markets especially for stolen vehicles across the borders as a result of corruption along the borders by both police, custom and military officers. Further, 85.5% indicated that cross border gang activities were worsened by lack of harmonized law for the regulation and prevention of these activities that led to enhanced proliferation of weapons as well as drugs to and from the neighboring countries. Major recommendations for policy considerations included; increased recruitment and deployment of female officers to beef up their ratio in undercover operations. Harmonized laws for the neighboring East African community countries and increased cooperation between the security organs of these countries in order to have a coordinated approach of tracking and apprehending criminals who escape to neighboring countries. The study also recommends mandatory training for DCI officers in computer/ technological skills to be able to intercept, interpret and or decode gang related communication and cybercrime related activities.

«GANG» AS A FORM OF CRIMINAL COMPLIANCE IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY CRIMINAL LEGISLATION (IN THE CONTEXT OF THE FOLLOWING TRANSFORMATION IN THE «BAND»)

The article presents an analysis of the norms of pre-revolutionary criminal legislation (Code of Criminal and Correctional Punishments of 1885), regulating such a form of criminal complicity as a «gang». The article shows the position of the legislator, who actually brought together the elements of crimes committed by a criminal gang (primarily property robbery) and crimes against the state in the form of an armed attack on «volost and public administrations». The conclusion is made that, taking into account the strengthening of the revolutionary movement at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the increased social danger of armed criminal gangs dictated the need to separate an independent corpus delicti, which was done, but after 1917, by the Soviet legislator in the form of banditry.

PROBLEMS OF SPECIFICATION OF CRIME RELATED TO THE INVOLVEMENT OF A MINOR IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES

The article presents an analysis of the norms of pre-revolutionary criminal legislation (Code of Criminal and Correctional Punishments of 1885), regulating such a form of criminal complicity as a «gang». The article shows the position of the legislator, who actually brought together the elements of crimes committed by a criminal gang (primarily property robbery) and crimes against the state in the form of an armed attack on «volost and public administrations». The conclusion is made that, taking into account the strengthening of the revolutionary movement at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the increased social danger of armed criminal gangs dictated the need to separate an independent corpus delicti, which was done, but after 1917, by the Soviet legislator in the form of banditry.

The criminalisation of gang activity in South Africa: reassessing the rationale

Criminal gang activity presents a substantial threat to the safety and security of, in particular, the inhabitants of the Cape Flats in Cape Town. The State has intervened legislatively through the form of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998. This is somewhat of a ‘super-criminalisation’ given that similar common law and statutory measures already existed prior to the promulgation of the Act. What is the rationale for the criminalisation of gang activity in South Africa? Furthermore, if there is sufficient rationale for this super-criminalisation, is there sufficient basis to argue for the additional responsibility of gang leaders, which is currently left uncovered by the Act?

ORBIT Outside the Room

This chapter is concerned with individual and social factors that may influence suspects’ decision-making during police interviews, as well as with the procedural and contextual landscape in which the interviews take place. The focus is on presenting descriptive data on a sample of 20 terrorist organization and organized criminal gang suspects and data regarding individual and contextual factors relating to each suspect in the sample. These factors include fear, status and relationship, criminal background, legal advice, strength of evidence, timing of arrest, type or circumstances of arrest or detention, and duration between offense and arrest. Using these outside-the-room factors as a framework, this chapter provides descriptive data on these factors as it pertained to the 20 suspects in the sample as well as data on the outcome of the process. The interviews with the suspects are also examined to identify and present instances of these factors arising in interactions between police interviewers and the suspects.

Resisting Displacement: Leveraging Interpersonal Ties to Remain despite Criminal Violence in Medellín, Colombia

Although civilians across the globe are fleeing conflict in record numbers, the reality is that far more remain behind. In addition to traditional wars, people stay in territories governed by criminal organizations. How might individuals threatened with displacement by a criminal gang manage to resist? Drawing on intensive participant observation and interviews in marginal neighborhoods of Medellín, Colombia, I argue that the urban residents most likely to remain despite being at risk of displacement are the “well connected.” Despite threats, they leverage ties to a community figure or member of the armed group to stay. I test a number of related hypotheses using an original survey and survey experiment. Unlike other work stressing that residents are trapped by scant resources or remain only by joining local associations or belligerents, my theory reveals residents’ agency and neutrality as they seek safety and security in conditions of state absence.

The Paraguayan Military and the Struggle Against Organized Crime and Insecurity

In October 2018, Paraguayan security forces successfully foiled two attempts to free “Marcelo Piloto,” a local leader of the Brazilian criminal gang Comando Vermelho (CV) from Agrupación Especializada, a military prison in the capital Asuncion. The sophistication of the plots, which included a car bomb and assault rifles,[1] illustrates the evolution of the threat in Paraguay from transnational organized crime. At the same time, the successful resolution of the attempts, including intervention by the Paraguayan police special forces organization FOPE, illustrates some progress by Paraguayan security forces in addressing the organized crime challenge.

A Little Larceny

This chapter looks at the '50s heist picture—a subgenre of '50s gangster noir—examining John Huston's Asphalt Jungle (1950). In Huston's film, the criminal gang resembles nothing so much as a corporation that mimics the increasing organization and alienation of the “age of anxiety.” Subsequent noir heist films elaborate on this topic, dramatizing the conflict between the individual and the crime syndicate. In these “capers,” the “foot soldier” frequently finds himself caught between the police and the boss—the Law and “Murder, Inc.”—a dire predicament where, as always seems to be the case in the overdetermined universe of classic noir, there's no way out.