About me
Mike Duke was born and raised in Harlem, New York. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. In 1996, he began his career in law enforcement with the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) as a Corrections Officer at Greensville Correctional Center. He was later promoted to Lieutenant and became the institutional investigator.
While dealing with gang members, he became involved with the identification and tracking process at the institutional level and subsequently became the Gang Coordinator at Greensville. Mike was instrumental in the drafting of new policies for the department governing the management of security threat groups and gangs. He was then promoted to Gang Specialist with the Gang Management Unit at Virginia DOC Headquarters.
At present, Mike has become the Statewide Gang/STG Coordinator with the Virginia Department of Corrections Headquarters, Special Operations Unit. He is also a certified Gang Specialist with the Virginia Gang Investigators Association (VGIA). Mike has been called upon to testify as a gang expert in various Circuit Courts throughout the commonwealth, as well as in the Eastern and Western districts of the Federal Courts in Virginia. Over the years, he has presented on gangs to thousands of law enforcement professionals at a variety of local, statewide, and national conferences. Mike has also interviewed thousands of gang members from various gangs. He is a DCJS General Instructor and Investigator and serves as a Board Member with the VGIA.
