International Latino Gang Investigators Association Touts IE Symposium

The International Latino Gang Investigators Association is preparing to host its 5th annual Inland Empire Symposium for law enforcement personnel in May in San Bernardino.

For this year's symposium, organizers are expecting 300 to 400 law enforcement officers and investigators, with an estimated 80 percent from Inland Empire agencies, as well as attendees from the Los Angeles Police Department and Arizona, Todd De Palma, ILGIA symposium coordinator, said in a phone interview Monday Feb. 11.

The four largest agencies represented this year are expected to be the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office, Sheriff's Department and Probation Department, and the California Department of Corrections, said De Palma, who is a full-time corrections officer in the Inland Empire.

"We also expect people from Interpol in Washington, D.C., as well as representatives of the El Salvador national police force talking about transnational gangs, the California-Central America connection," De Palma said. "Representatives of the U.S. embassy in Mexico City will be attending also, including 15 to 20 ICE agents."

At last year's symposium, members of the Redlands police Multiple Enforcement Team joined more than 300 other law enforcement personnel to discuss emerging trends and new gang activity applicable to the Redlands-Loma Linda area.

In May 2012, Redlands police Multiple Enforcement Team members estimated there were more than 400 documented gang members in the Redlands area.

"Our current count is 500 total," Redlands police spokesman Carl Baker estimated Monday, "432 from Redlands gangs and 68 gang members that claim gangs outside the city."

The two-day event, scheduled May 2 and May 3 2013 at the Hilton on East Hospitality Lane, is for sworn federal, state, local or tribal law enforcement officers, special agents, correctional, parole, probation, or classification officers, intelligence analysts, prosecutors, and prosecutors' investigators currently employed by an agency or department, De Palma said.

"ILGIA requires all attendees to provide Law Enforcement I.D. prior to being admitted into the conference," De Palma said.

One-day cost per person for the symposium is $65 and two-day cost is $125. A pdf copy of the registration form with more details is attached to this report. For more information visit www.ilgiaonline.org.

The ILGIA operates as a non-profit organization, with directors in California, Washington state, Colorado and New Jersey, according to its website.