When does a club become a gang?

When does a club become a gang?  This is a question many police administrators are asking themselves.  In the old days of the Electra Glide and Gold Wing, cops would tour with the Blue Knights or similar types of motorcycle clubs.  In those early years the cops drove their black and whites police cars and they would deal and tangle with the 1% ers with choppers and hogs ridden by the Hells Angels, Outlaws, Mongols, Pagans, Bandidos and similar criminal motorcycle gangs.

Today that line appears to be blurred.  There are law enforcement only, male only, motorcycle groups throughout the country with names like the Iron Pigs, Defenders, Regulators.  They fly their colors on their leather jackets or vests in the traditional three-piece emblem with a top and bottom rocker.  It’s difficult to distinguish them from the 1% ers without the occasional flash of a badge on a belt or the obvious gun worn.  With the Federal law these active and retired officers can carry guns anywhere and in any state.

In December a chapter of the Iron Brotherhood in Arizona was involved in a fight in a local bar.  Arizona DPS investigated this incident and the prosecutor is now considering charges including the cover-up and obstruction.  Several ranking police officers have either retired or resigned.  Multiple police agencies at the federal, state and local level are involved in conducting IA investigations of their officers.  One deputy chief who resigned is reported in the local newspaper saying that “the clothing members wore should not be used against them.”  Well, duh, of course it will!  If you look like a gangster, act like a gangster, you’ll be portrayed to be a gangster!

I ask a question in my Internal Affairs training seminars that I conduct every month throughout the country “Is this some sort of violation?  Is this conduct unbecoming?”  It always provokes a healthy discussion.  There seems to be no simple answer.  Most say it has the potential to create trouble for the officer and the agency where he works.  Everyone acknowledges that this has the potential to create a bad image of police officers with the general public.  Of course, isn’t that a basic element of conduct unbecoming?

Even if the officer is thrust into a legitimate use of force, or deadly force, will this garb be used against him?  Of course it will!  The prosecutor will drag that vest or jacket with the offensive colors in front of the jury as much as my old friend Johnnie Cochran did with the infamous glove in the OJ trial.

In the end it boils down to what ethical values are our officers living by?  It’s not a generational issue.  It involves both young and old.  Actually most of the officers involved are senior officers.  Officers who should know better.  But we hear comments like “I’m off duty.  I can do what I want.  I shouldn’t be judged by my friends or how I look.”  But you are.  You’re blue 24/7 whether you want to be or not!  You will be judged – fair or not!