Police perspective on combating gangs
December 31, 2007
After writing today’s feature on Montgomery County’s Gang Prosecution Unit, I had a chance to speak with 18-year veteran Capt. David Gillespie, director of the county police department’s special investigations division, about the police perspective on the prosecutor office’s new approach to gang crimes.
This fall, arresting officers were required to fill out a special alert form that is sent to the prosecutor’s office whenever a known gang member is arrested and charged with a crime.
He said the extra work has “not had much impact,” and in fact, he believes that most officers “are happy to do it” because they know the case will be sure to get attention.
“It’s imperative that we track those active gangs and the crimes these gangs are committing so that we are knowledgeable in both the crime activity and what motivates them,” he said.
Gillespie also reiterated what others in the article say: “It’s not targeting but focusing on known gang members who are actively committing crimes in the community,” he said. “The impact of a violent offense by a gang member in the community — it is extremely negative and it is important that we keep that focus to combating gang crime and violence so that these types of incidents are the exception rather than the norm.”
But Paul B. DeWolfe, the district public defender for the county, has a different take.
“When someone commits a crime, he should be punished accordingly,” he said last week. “If it is a gang-related or retaliation crime, that’s one thing … what we see more often and what we often object to is individuals being targeted for crimes.”
While he acknowledged that the gang unit’s prosecutions are based on actual crimes and not personalities, he argued that because gang members “are being prosecuted more aggressively for non-gang activity, that would tend to refute that they are not profiling.”
What’s your take? Check out the article and let us know!
LIZ FARMER, Legal Affairs Writer
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