One can only wonder how much the international training offered by the US Department of Justice's National Gang Center has fallen into disuse under the Obama Administration. The US DHS is another agency that has worked with international partners to combat international trafficking, but it's a department that needs revitalization, too.

https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic...27612/dept.htm
Department of Justice Anti-Gang Initiative

In 2006 the PSN program expanded to combat gangs and gang violence. The Department has taken a number of significant steps to address this problem both domestically and internationally. First, the Department established the Attorney General's Anti-Gang Coordination Committee to bring all of the Department's wide ranging efforts to bear in the focus on gangs. Second, each U.S. Attorney appointed an Anti-Gang Coordinator to provide leadership and focus to our anti-gang efforts at the district level. Third, the Anti-Gang Coordinators, in consultation with their local law enforcement and community partners, developed and are implementing comprehensive, district-wide strategies to address the gang problems in each of America's districts. Finally, the Department is working closely with our international partners, particularly in Central America, to prevent violent gangs in those regions from infiltrating our communities.


National Gang Intelligence Center

NGIC integrates the gang intelligence assets of all Department of Justice agencies and has established partnerships with other federal, state, and local agencies that possess gang-related information--serving as a centralized intelligence resource for gang information and analytical support. This enables gang investigators and analysts to identify links between gangs and gang investigations, to further identify gangs and gang members, to learn the full scope of their criminal activities and enterprises, to determine which gangs pose the greatest threat to the United States, to identify trends in gang activity and migration, and to guide the appropriate officials in coordinating their investigations and prosecutions to disrupt and dismantle gangs. The NGIC's mission is to support law enforcement agencies through timely and accurate information sharing and strategic/tactical analysis of federal, state, and local law enforcement intelligence focusing on the growth, migration, criminal activity, and association of gangs that pose a significant threat to communities throughout the United States.

Department of Justice Efforts to Combat Transnational Gangs

The Merida Initiative and U.S. Anti-Gang Efforts

Parallel with its efforts to combat gangs domestically, the Department has significantly expanded efforts to attack the links that connect transnational gang members across the region, especially in Mexico and Central America. The Department's efforts to further combat transnational gangs is part of the President's Merida Initiative, aimed at strengthening our borders, regional security, and effective law enforcement, especially against violent crime.
U.S. Anti-Gang Strategy

The Department has lead responsibility for implementing the law enforcement components of the Strategy to Combat the Threat of Criminal Gangs from Central America and Mexico, adopted by the U.S. Government in 2007. The Strategy is an important component of the overall Merida Initiative and recognizes that effectively combating violent gangs at home requires combating violent gangs abroad. A series of recent initiatives aims to reduce the danger and the violence posed by transnational gangs.
Improved International Coordination

The Department continues to enhance international partnerships in the fight against transnational gangs. This strong level of regional cooperation was exhibited in the 2nd Annual International Chiefs of Police Summit on Transnational Gangs, which was held in Los Angeles in March 2008 and included senior anti-gang officials from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Canada, Nicaragua and other nations. The Summit focused on initiatives for gang prevention, information sharing, law enforcement officer exchange, and going after the region's top gang fugitives. Each of these initiatives will be presented for further action at the 4th Annual International Gang Conference in San Salvador in April 2008.
Anti-Gang Initiatives

One example of the progress made by the Department of Justice is the comprehensive, four-part, regional initiative on combating transnational gangs launched by the Department in El Salvador on February 5, 2007. This initiative is strengthening efforts to identify and prosecute the most dangerous Salvadoran gang members through programs to enhance gang enforcement, fugitive apprehension, international coordination, information sharing, and training and prevention. This series of initiatives include efforts such as vetted anti-gang units, the CAFÉ Fingerprint Initiative, and increased international anti-gang training.
Vetted Anti-Gang Units

In fall 2007, the FBI, DOJ's Criminal Division, and the Department of State assisted El Salvador's National Civilian Police (Policia Nacional Civil, or PNC) in creating a new Transnational Anti-Gang (TAG) unit to better pursue and prosecute gang members. FBI agents provide front-line training and information sharing, increasing the ability of the PNC to identify and arrest the worst offenders. FBI has agents in the country to directly support the TAG unit. At the request of El Salvador, the FBI, USMS, DEA, ATF, and other law enforcement agencies are conducting a series of joint assessments (a pilot program) of anti-gang capabilities in El Salvador, identifying the best strategic options for El Salvador in undertaking additional steps to enhance domestic and regional anti-gang efforts.
CAFÉ Fingerprint Initiative

The FBI, with funding support from the State Department, has accelerated the implementation of the Central American Fingerprinting Exploitation (CAFÉ) initiative in order to better identify, track, and apprehend gang members. CAFÉ has provided equipment and training to help law enforcement agencies in El Salvador and other Central American nations acquire digital fingerprints of violent gang members and other criminals who commit crimes under different identities in different countries. FBI is working to expand the CAFÉ initiative to Guatemala and Honduras in 2008 and expects to expand the initiative to other Central American nations in the future. Complementing this step forward, the Justice Department has supported implementation of the Department of Homeland Security's Electronic Travel Document (eTD) System. This provides law enforcement officials in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador with information on Salvadoran gang members and other criminals who are being deported from the United States to their home nations after serving criminal sentences in the United States.
International Anti-Gang Training

The United States has vastly increased its anti-gang training in Central America, including efforts through the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in San Salvador. Since 2006, the Department has led or participated in a series of four regional anti-gang training programs at the ILEA, bringing both police investigators and prosecutors from throughout the region to the Academy for anti-gang training. The curriculum covers best practices in targeting and fighting gang activity and other crimes. The Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) and the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) have developed and supported a new series of four additional anti-gang training programs at the ILEA that will stretch out into 2009.



https://www.ice.gov/national-gang-unit


"We help keep violent gangs from taking over our streets."




U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recognizes that transnational criminal street gangs represent a significant threat to public safety in communities throughout the United States.
The National Gang Unit (NGU) is a critical part of ICE’s mission to bring the fight to transnational criminal gangs. The NGU identifies and develops intelligence on gang membership, associations, activities and international movements. It also deters, disrupts gang operations by tracing and seizing cash, weapons and other assets derived from illicit activities.

In 2005, ICE initiated Operation Community Shield, an international law enforcement initiative that combines Homeland Security Investigations' (HSI) expansive statutory and civil enforcement authorities to combat the growth and proliferation of transnational criminal street gangs, prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs throughout the United States. With assistance from state, local, tribal and foreign law enforcement partners, the initiative helps HSI locate, investigate, prosecute, and where applicable, immediately remove gang members from our neighborhoods and ultimately from the United States.
Mission

HSI's NGU leverages its anti-gang initiative called Operation Community Shield to enhance U.S. public safety. The unit develops strategic domestic and foreign law enforcement partnerships and utilizes those partnerships, along with all of its unique legal authorities to target gangs, to suppress violence and prosecute criminal enterprises.
Gang Intelligence Gathering and Sharing

HSI is the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, and has positioned itself as the leader in transnational criminal gang investigations. As such, HSI is committed to sharing gang intelligence gathered through investigations to aggressively pursue leads