Officers attribute the big-city decrease to similarities in methods to fight gang crime, including community education, youth programs, and gang enforcement units. In Salt Lake City, reported gang crimes for the first quarter 1999 are the lowest since 1993. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Denver have experienced similar declines. Robin Howell, who joined the Salt Lake gang crime unit in 1996, says the department has photographs of an estimated 4,500 gang members in Salt Lake County so that officers can keep track of them. Fourteen officers devote their time to contacting gang members, and an additional 10 investigators look into gang crimes.
Officers make contact with suspected gang members if they observe even the pettiest of misdemeanors.
As a result of the increased enforcement, minor gang crimes in the Utah city have risen from 90 to 214 in a year. The county will become one of the first in nation to have its law enforcement departments using technology that combines an electronic fingerprint identification system with a digital mug-shot camera. Called Livescan, the technology is expected to relieve law enforcement officials of having to deal with the numerous aliases that thousands of people are using these days. Fairfax County also plans to scan hundreds of thousands of fingerprints from Maryland's Montgomery and Prince George's counties into the database. Police will monitor the cameras from substations.