Computer System to Track Asian Organized Crime

Monterey Park police said they will use a $100,000 federal grant to set up a system for tracking Asian organized crime that will be the only one of its kind in the nation.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy awarded the grant in December specifically to track drug trafficking and money laundering operations not only in the San Gabriel Valley city’s burgeoning Asian community, but nationwide.

Police Chief Daniel G. Cross said this week that about $50,000 of the funds will be used for a unique computer network system that will track thousands of Asian gang members and other criminals throughout the country. The new system will identify suspects through such details as tattoos, weapons used and modes of operation. Until now, police departments with Asian crime units have worked independently or have exchanged paper copies through faxes or by mail, he said.

“This will allow us to put together lots of cases that are taking place independent of each other all over the United States,” the chief said. “For the first time, law enforcement has a centralized depository of intelligence information.”

The other half of the grant will be used for salaries and training of the officers--the department’s five-member Asian task force--who will work on the network. The city has 60,738 residents, 56% of them of Asian descent, according to the latest U.S. Census figures.

The computer network will be coordinated by Monterey Park police but will be available to any law enforcement agency, Cross said.

In December, U.S. Senate investigators reported that Asian crime groups rank as “a problem of dramatic proportions” in the United States and abroad, particularly in California, Cross said.

The Senate Government Affairs investigations subcommittee also said that law enforcement efforts to address the threat are largely inadequate. The report noted major Asian gangs in Monterey Park and other San Gabriel Valley cities.

The problem is getting worse, Cross said.

“We’re very concerned that, in 1997, when Hong Kong is taken over by mainland China, that a lot of organized crime is going to be leaving there and going to communities that have large, established Asian populations (like Monterey Park),” he said. “We want to get ahead of the curve.”

On Monday, the City Council approved Cross’ request to buy the computer system from Criminal Investigation Technology Inc. The system is expected to be operational in “a couple of months,” Cross said.