After the second annual California Gang Investigators Street Gang Seminar was presented in San Jose, May 30th to June 1st 1984, Northern California gang investigators formed an ad hoc committee to establish a professional association in order to share information. identify training needs and to act as a catalyst in Northern California.

Thereafter, with the support of the California Youth Authority, a meeting was hold in San Leandro on July 31, 1984. The participants (ninety plus) were from all areas and levels (local, state and federal) of law enforcement. It was felt that with the increase of gang activities in Northern California, a group serving as a vanguard to counteract this growth, was indeed needed.

Thus the Northern California Gang Investigators Association was formed, and as of July 2000, has over 250 members.