Unconventional Allies: Illicit Organizations in Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery

Lecture Center 20

The Whole Community approach to emergency management stresses the importance of involving the full community when planning for disasters. This approach strengthens the community from the inside out, reducing the overall demands on emergency managers, while providing a more comprehensive means of addressing diverse community needs. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) encourages community stakeholders to participate in all phases of the disaster cycle, including the planning process. Typically, these partners are envisaged as local leaders in nongovernmental organizations, religious groups, members of the private sector, and civic organizations among others. However, stakeholder engagement may be complicated in communities with a strong presence of criminal organizations, like gangs. The illicit nature of these organizations present clear problems for these communities, yet they are often directly connected to the most vulnerable and difficult to reach populations. This study explores the potential benefits (if any) to involving gangs/illicit organizations in community engagement for emergency management, and identifies who might benefit from that engagement. Through analysis of research on criminal organizations in communities, policy analysis, and efforts to engage with current and former criminal actors in other contexts, this study explores benefits of engaging gangs/illicit organizations in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, while also examining the ethical and moral complications to doing so.