The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, in partnership with the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), is pleased to announce training on Interpreting Gang Tattoos. This class will familiarize law enforcement and correctional officials with the identification and interpretation of complex and evolving gang tattoos and how they can be used to develop preventive and suppression strategies. Some of the learning objectives for this training include: purpose of gang tattoos, ethnic/racially based gang tattoos, gang tattoo concealment methods, the benefit of gang tattoo knowledge to law enforcement and gang tattoo based security threat strategies for law enforcement and corrections personnel. Registration for this course will be limited to 90 participants.
This training will be instructed by Joseph J. Kolb, MA, the Executive Director for the Southwest Gang Information Center based in Albuquerque, N.M. Mr. Kolb has conducted training for numerous agencies including the Mexican Federal Police and the U.S. State Department staff at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
This training is open to all sworn law enforcement officers.
Partial In-service Credit (PIC) for law enforcement officers will be available.
Registration begins at 7:30 AM
Training will be from 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Transportation, lodging, and meals are the responsibility of the student.
There is no registration fee to attend this training.
Pre-registration is required.
Please note that the DCJS registration system does not have the capacity to sort eligible from ineligible registrants. Therefore, anyone who registers will receive a confirmation. It is the responsibility of the DCJS assigned course director to review the roster and make a final determination on acceptance into the course. Registrants not accepted will be notified via the email address provided during registration.
