Military personnel, their dependents, and civilian employees often face tremendous stress in their lives, and potential threats to their safety. Unchecked, this environment can impact military readiness and overall quality of life. To counter these stressors and threats, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) has implemented a collaborative Crime Reduction Program to proactively fight crime within the military community.
NCIS has partnered with the Judge Advocate General (JAG), Public Affairs Office, Family Advocacy Program (FAP), Chaplain Corps, and other Department of Navy (DoN) entities, to facilitate a cross-cutting effort to help military communities reduce crime. The Crime Reduction Program organizes multiple crime reduction campaigns throughout the year, with each campaign focused on a singular theme; such as, domestic violence, narcotics, or identity theft. These campaigns will highlight the precursors of crime and victimization, while providing an outlet for reporting such acts.
Youth may be attracted to and influenced by local gang members. Since the 1980s, juvenile gang membership and activity has increased in the US. In 2006, the National Youth Gang Center estimated the number of youth gangs in the US to be approximately 24,000 with approximately 760,000 members.
Studies indicate that the single most cited reason for joining a gang by young gang members is the need for protection. However, the growth of youth gangs in the suburbs suggests other motives for membership, such as those seeking a sense of belonging, power/respect, money and drugs.
The US military population is representative of the US civilian population; therefore, it should come as no surprise that members of street gangs have been identified on military installations. In fact, members of every major street gang have been discovered on military installations both domestically and internationally.
To schedule a Gang Awareness Briefing for your command, please contact NCIS Resident Agency Iwakuni, Japan, at DSN: 253-5589.