Gangs becoming more elusive

Huntsville Item - 12/14/2018

Dec. 14--Gangs continue to have a strong presence in Southeast Texas.

According to a new report from the Department of Public Safety, approximately 100,000 gang members across Texas are responsible for the highest levels of violence throughout the state. The worst of the organized crime from Southeast Texas is stemming out of the Harris and Montgomery County, with a slight presence in Walker County

"A lot of the gang activity in Walker County is wannabes," said David Weeks, Walker County district attorney. "We have had gangs and cliques for a while, but most of them don't have any relation to the major gangs."

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the most significant gangs in Southeast Texas includes Bloods, Crips, Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, Sureños and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).

"Although law enforcement continues to significantly disrupt the operations and leadership of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas around the state, the gang maintains an active presence in the counties of Harris and Montgomery," officials said in the report. "MS-13 maintains an active presence and is also highly concentrated in Harris and Montgomery counties."

Police data from 2017 shows that the majority of gang arrests in Southeast Texas were for drug and property crimes, most notably assault and robbery. Nearly 74 percent of all gang arrests were for assault, while 19 percent were for robbery and three percent were sexual assault.

Walker County has also, at times, served as a "dumping station" for murdered bodies from gangs. However, officials say that "the culprits have been caught every time a body was brought up."

So while their numbers in Texas have not grown since last year's DPS threat assessment, it seems some gang members are getting more difficult to put behind bars.

The multi-jurisdictional and evolving threat posed by transnational criminal organizations requires a fully integrated approach to affect the most problematic gangs operating in Texas," the report states. "Such organized crime throughout the estate can be reduced using proven strategies that dismantle the command and control networks of those criminal organizations that most threaten public safety in Texas.

"The combining of intelligence, patrol, investigation and prosecutorial resources is essential for any strategy to be effective."

The agency has found that gangs in Texas are continuing to work closely with the Mexican cartels. The report states that the gangs in Southeast Texas provide director support to cartel drug and human smuggling operations into and throughout Texas and the nation.

"Over the last few years, we have expanded the number of Texas Anti-Gang Centers and initiated and supported violent crime task forces in our state," said Governor Greg Abbott. "With gangs continuing to pose a serious threat to public safety in Texas, our residents can rest assured that we will remove these ruthless criminals from the streets and bolster the safety and security of our communities."

The Texas Anti-Gang Centers are funded by grants from the Criminal Justice Division of the Texas Governor's Office to support targeted, regional approaches to combating gang violence. This includes partnerships between state, local and federal law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to closely coordinate activities related to the prevention, intervention and suppression of gang-related crime and violence.

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