Regional Gang Violence, Activity, Down

(Friday) January 15, 2010

By Carla Branch and Rebecca Newsham
alexandrianews.org

The Northern Virginia Regional Commission has just released its comprehensive gang assessment, which indicates that gang activity in the area is down.  The study area included four counties, five cities, seven towns, and more than 40 named places in Northern Virginia.  Nationally, this is the first assessment where research of this nature extends across an entire region.

“Whereas 15 years ago most gang activity was centered inside and in the vicinity of the Beltway, now gang activity can be found spread throughout the entire region, literally everywhere people live and congregate,”said Ken Billingsley, Director of Information and Demographic Services Division of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission.

Trends In Gang Related Crimes

According to the report, violent or serious part I gang-related crime in the region has decreased by 17% since 2003.  Gang-related homicides have remained the same, averaging two to three per year. While there was an increase in gang-related forcible rape during the study period, there were the same number of incidents in 2008, eight, as there were in 2003. Robbery is down by 31.5%, aggravated assault, down, four percent, burglary is down by 18%, larceny is down nearly 20% and motor vehicle theft is down 27.3%.

There were 17,785 violent crimes against people in Northern Virginia committed over the past six years, an average of about eight violent crimes per day. Five percent of these violent crimes were classified as gang-related.  Half of all gang-related part I offenses are violent crimes against people, such as homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

“There were 10,208 reported gang-related crimes in Northern Virginia over the six-year period beginning in 2003 and ending in 2008. By no means does this figure represent the totality of crimes committed by youth street gangs. Rather, it is the number that was documented for 15 specific offense categories for which gang-crime statistics are compiled,” Billingsley said.  “On average, this equates to about 1,700 gang-related crimes per year, or slightly less than five incidents per day, one of which  is a serious part I offense and four of which are less serious violations, such as drug offenses, graffiti and simple assault.”

The report looked at seven serious part I crimes and eight additional offenses that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention recommends counting when reporting gang-related activity.  The only one of the 15 gang-related crimes that increased was graffiti, which rose by 29%.

“Whether the increase is indicative of more gang activity or is a function of citizens responding more quickly when graffiti appears cannot be determined,” Billingsley said.

During the study period, law enforcement in Northern Virginia arrested 952 gang members. More than 40 percent of those individuals were also charged with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement violation, although the numbers and percentages in recent years have dropped precipitously, according to the report.

Gangs and Gang Members

There are an estimated 5000 gang members in Northern Virginia that belong to between 80 and 100 gangs or clique.  The largest and most active gang in the region is MS-13 with around 3000 members. Four other gangs with a significant regional presence are 18th Street, Southside Locos, Bloods and the Crips, according to the study.

While most reported gang activity, historically, occurs within the region’s high schools, one trend that appears to be emerging is an increase in gang activity in the middle schools. “Anecdotally, gang members are getting younger,” Billingsley said.

According to the report, over the past five years there have been 1012 reported gang incidents in Northern Virginia public schools and 1156 individual students charged with gang activity. “The public schools and the police in the region have done a very good job recognizing and dealing with gang activity and that is why we have seen such a decrease in gang-related violent crime,” Billingsley said. “However, we must remain vigilant and continue to support our police gang units and the gang prevention activities that all of the jurisdictions have put in place.”