In response to the recent proliferation of gangs throughout the country, law enforcement agencies have modified their structures and resources to address the gang problem. Many agencies have created specialized units to focus specifically on gangs and the crimes they commit. Results of the 1995 National Youth Gang Survey indicated that 64 percent of police departments and 50 percent of sheriff's departments had some type of specialized unit to address the gang problem.

A question concerning the creation of specialized response units was also included in the 1997 National Youth Gang Survey. Respondents who reported active youth gangs in their jurisdictions were asked if their agencies had a youth/street gang unit or officer(s), a gang prevention unit or officer(s), or one unit that combined both types of units.⁵ The majority⁶ (66 percent) of respondents indicated that they had some type of specialized unit to address the gang problem (see table 26). Respondents were asked to check all choices that applied; therefore, percentages may not total 100 percent. Thirty-five percent reported having a youth/street gang unit or officer(s), 18 percent said they had a gang prevention unit or officer(s), and 29 percent indicated that they had a unit that combined both of the above types of units. Large cities were the most likely (77 percent) to have a specialized response unit, and rural counties were the least likely (34 percent). The variation between area types is statistically significant for all types of response units.

Table 27 reveals the types of specialized response units, by region. The vast majority (83 percent)⁷ of respondents in the West reported having some type of response unit. Furthermore, compared with the other regions, agencies in the West were more likely to have each type of response unit listed on the survey. The variation between regions is statistically significant for all types of response units except gang prevention units or officers.

The existence of a specialized response unit also varied directly with population size (see table 28). With few exceptions, the percentage of respondents who reported the existence of a response unit within their agency increased as population size increased. In the highest population range (250,000 or more), 90 percent of respondents said they had some type of specialized response unit, compared with only 38 percent in the lowest population range (1-9,999).⁸ The variation between population categories was found to be statistically significant for each type of specialized response unit.