The New Mexico Gang Task Force (NMGTF) is the largest organized task force in the State dealing with gangs as a multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency entity.

Funding through the New Mexico Department of Public Safety/Bureau of Grants Management from the Bureau of Justice Administration, Edward Byrne Memorial Fund.

Our main goal is to provide federal, state, local and tribal agencies with training, information, and funding to enhance interdiction and enforcement efforts with the goal of reducing criminal gang activity, including narcotics trafficking, throughout the State of New Mexico.

The coordinated effort that the New Mexico Gang Task Force provides allows criminal justice personnel the opportunity to make the most of the limited resources available within the State by way of the following:

• Assist in the prevention and suppression of juvenile and gang violence/criminal activity in New Mexico by identifying, coordinating, and utilizing existing intervention programs;

• Provide assessments to criminal justice agencies for gang interdiction and prosecution purposes;

• Provide high-quality, cost effective training for criminal justice agencies in topics concerning gang problems, gang-related criminal activity and interdiction techniques;

• Assist in developing appropriate anti-gang crime laws at the local, county, state and federal levels;

• Compile and analyze data on gang trends; report on gang trends to criminal justice agencies and where appropriate;

• Respond to departmental requests for intelligence information and emergency overtime;

• Assist in developing and implementing state-wide standardized methods of identifying, documenting, tracking, reporting, and enforcing gang-related criminal activity (i.e. GangNet);

• Become the centralized clearinghouse for New Mexico in the area of juvenile and gang violence.

The gang problem in New Mexico has escalated in the past few years from relatively traditional neighborhood gangs, found primarily in the state's urban areas, to criminal gangs statewide. New Mexico's gangs are now more mobile, more violent, and more involved in high-level criminal activities.