Salt Lake Gang Task Force Receives FBI Award

12.10.2009 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) The Salt Lake Area Gang Project received a 2009 Director’s Community Leadership Award for improving public safety from the Salt Lake City FBI Field Office this afternoon. FBI Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Doug Ziser praised the multi-jurisdictional task force for its work over the past 20 years.

“It’s a tough duty, combating gang violence, to educate the public on a problem that isn’t easy to talk about,” Ziser said. “Yet detectives assigned to the Salt Lake Area Gang Project hit the streets and tackle these tough issues every day.”

Ziser said the gang project has been successful in implementing innovative programs to tackle the problem, including a Public Enemy No. 1 program, mentoring and intervention programs for at-risk youth and tattoo removal for former gang members.

The Salt Lake Area Gang Project brings together numerous law enforcement agencies and community groups to reduce gang violence in Salt Lake County. Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Steve Anjewierden supervises the gang project. He says the biggest challenge facing the gang task force is that Salt Lake Valley is now not only attracting new gang members, but exporting them to other parts of the state and country.

“We need to be good at communicating with other jurisdictions both within the state and beyond the state to help share information as widely as we can, appropriately, to impact that change,” Anjewierden said.

Past recipients of the award include the Idaho National Laboratory for a terrorism awareness program and Salt Lake City nonprofit Colors for Success for working with at-risk youth. The Salt Lake City field office oversees FBI offices in Utah, Idaho and Montana.