Gang Violence

No one should have to live in fear in their community; however, violent gangs are one of the greatest threats to our communities in northern Virginia.  As the former chairman and now republican leader of the House Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department, I have pushed the department to make gang enforcement a top priority.  

The 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment reported that there are at least 1.4 million gang members belonging to 33,000 national, regional, or local gangs operating in the United States. This is an increase of 65 percent from 2009. The report also found that gang members are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crimes in communities and are the primary retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs. Gangs are increasingly using the Internet and mobile technologies to recruit new members and coordinate nationally and in foreign countries.

For the past several years, I have secured critical federal funding to launch and sustain the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force (Loudoun, Leesburg, Fairfax, Herndon, Prince William, Manassas, Manassas Park, Fairfax City, Falls Church, Alexandria, Vienna, Dumfries, Arlington, Warrenton, and Fauquier jurisdictions) and the Northwest Virginia Regional Gang Task Force (Frederick, Clarke, Warren, Page, and Shenandoah
counties, as well as the Town of Front Royal and the City of Winchester).

In the last year alone, the task forces have been successful in identifying hundreds of suspected gang members, executing scores of search warrants, and making hundreds of related arrests.

Thanks to increased coordination and resources, the two regional task forces work hand-in-hand with the FBI, ATF, DEA, and U.S. Marshals Service to identify, arrest, and prosecute violent gang members in northern Virginia.  

I am proud, however, to report that the 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment singles out northern Virginia law enforcement for having disrupted some MS-13 gang operations – one of the only bright spots in the entire report.  This is a testament to the hard work of our Northern Virginia and Northwest Regional Gang Task forces.

Additionally, I secured federal funding to establish the FBI National Gang Intelligence Center that works on the gang issue nationwide.  The program integrates gang intelligence from federal, state, and local law enforcement on the activities and movements of violent gangs.  The center supports local law enforcement, like the task force, by sharing timely information and by providing intelligence analysis.

I will continue to work as the representative for the 10th District in Congress to ensure that our local law enforcement units have the necessary resources and tools to combat violent gangs and help keep our schools and neighborhoods safe.