Steve Burns
WMAL.com

ROCKVILLE – (WMAL) With gang activity showing no signs of slowing down, Montgomery County officials are starting to re-examine their approach to suppressing gang violence. Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, in particular, advocated for reform in a recent County Council Public Safety Committee meeting, telling councilmembers “what we’re doing isn’t working.”

Half of the county’s homicides in 2016 were gang-related, according to police statistics. Police Chief Tom Manger said gang crimes aren’t necessarily rising, but they are no less concerning.

“We are seeing not so much an increase in the numbers of gang crime, but an increase in the violent nature of what we’re seeing,” Manger said.

McCarthy backed that up with evidence from recent crimes showing victims stabbed dozens of times, some with internal organs removed. The volatility is also a concern, as shown in the recent case in which two young men wearing red at the Lakeforest Mall were mistaken by a gang leader to be a part of a rival gang. One of the men was stabbed as they fled. The leader, Jose Zaldivar, was convicted on four counts last month. He faces upwards of 60 years in prison.

Another concerning development is the age of perpetrators – Zaldivar was 16 at the time of the mall incident. McCarthy said recruitment is happening in middle schools.

“It’s a merit-based system. Your status is based on what you’ve done in service to the gang,” McCarthy said.

Outreach needs to be increased in schools, McCarthy said, and laws need to be updated.

“We need a RICO-type of statute, modeled on a federal statute,” McCarthy said. “We are not regularly doing grand jury investigative work, gathering information on who are the leadership in Montgomery County. I thin kwe have to do that. I need resources to do that.”

And law enforcement needs to stay up on its social media skills. McCarthy said what can be found on Facebook is “amazing.”

“They’ll say that they’re not a member of the gang, but you go to the web page and they’re with 27 other guys doing the gang signs, showing you their tattoos, holding their weapons.”

Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Montgomery Co. Police Facebook)