Phone: 419-936-3666
Fax: 419-936-3696
Toledo Police Department
Gang
Unit
Phone: 419-936-3666
Fax: 419-936-3696
The Gang Unit is attached to the Operations Division of the Toledo Police Department. The Section Commander is Lieutenant Brad Weis. The Gang Unit is comprised of the Lieutenant, one Sergeant and five Detectives. The Gang Unit also receives assistance from the Lucas County Sheriff Department, Lucas County Prosecutor, Lucas County Dog Warden, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Gang Unit combats gang related crime through active suppression, investigation and intelligence gathering. It is responsible for the investigation of crimes reported as gang related such as narcotics, vandalism, assault, felonious assault, robbery, burglary and dog fighting investigations. They provide assistance to other sections within the department on investigations involving auto thefts, sex crimes and homicide as requested.
The Gang Unit conducts gang suppression activities, along with the Operations Division's Directed Policing Section. This includes area sweeps, motor vehicle stops, field interviews and arrests, all made in a visible, high profile manner.
The Gang Unit investigates the sale and distribution of narcotics by criminal street gangs. The Gang Unit works hand-in-hand with the Metro Drug Task Force and the Vice Narcotics Unit. This includes executing search warrants on gang related drug-houses and padlocking those locations when possible.
The Gang Unit also maintains an intelligence file, which can be utilized by the entire department as necessary. Gang Information and Field Interview Reports from throughout the city are submitted by street crews and school officers. These reports assist in the identification of new gang members and current trends.
The members of the Gang Unit also interact with surrounding agencies and other organizations, including the Office of the Attorney General, Midwest Gang Investigators Association, the Wood County Gang Task Force, Detroit, MI, Police and the Great Lakes International Gang Investigators Coalition.
The unit enhances the intelligence by providing gang recognition training to the police academy, school faculty, corrections personnel, and speaking at public forums such as Block Watch meetings. These groups in turn provide the Gang Unit with more usable information.
The Toledo Police Department has shown that when the combined efforts of the Gang Unit, Metro Drug Task Force, Vice Narcotics, Directed Policing (SWAT), street crews and School Resource officers are applied to suppressing the outward appearance of gang activity, the chance of related random violence is decreased.
If you
or you agency has information about criminal gangs in your area,
you are urged to contact the Toledo Police Gang Unit at 419-936-3666 or by E-mail.
* Ohio's Gang Law, in part:
§
2923.41 Definitions.
Text of Statute
As used in sections 2923.41 to 2923.47 of the Revised Code:
(A) "Criminal gang" means an ongoing formal or informal
organization, association, or group of three or more persons to
which all of the following apply:
(1) It has as one of its primary activities the commission of one
or more of the offenses listed in division (B) of this section.
(2) It has a common name or one or more common, identifying
signs, symbols, or colors.
(3) The persons in the organization, association, or group
individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a
pattern of criminal gang activity.
§
2923.42 Participating in criminal gang.
Text of Statute
(A) No person who actively participates in a criminal gang, with
knowledge that the criminal gang engages in or has engaged in a
pattern of criminal gang activity, shall purposely promote,
further, or assist any criminal conduct, as defined in division
(C) of section 2923.41 of the Revised Code, or shall purposely
commit or engage in any act that constitutes criminal conduct, as
defined in division (C) of section 2923.41 of the Revised Code.
(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of participating in a
criminal gang, a felony of the second degree.
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