NBC29McDonnell Cracks Down on Gang Activity

McDonnell Cracks Down on Gang Activity

Reported by Tamara Hinton
September 11, 2007

Attorney General Bob McDonnell has made it his mission to crack down on gang activity across the state. His inspiration came from three gang-related murders and a growing trend of criminal gang activity throughout the Shenandoah Valley in the last six years.

Last year, he unveiled an anti-gang initiative to buck the trend. Since the campaign was launched he's put in place a full-time gang prosecutor, a multi-jurisdictional grand jury to help secure convictions and a process among law enforcement to work together to root out gang activity.

A significant result of this team effort came last December when an early morning raid called “Operation Vampire” resulted in taking more than 24 gang members and drug dealers off the streets. All suspects arrested that day have since been convicted on various drug, gun and gang participation charges.

Authorities said those convictions completely dismantled an entire street gang that was operating in Staunton. “As far as the level of gang activity, this team has begun to really hold the growth in gang activity at bay, not so in some other areas of the state. We're actually seeing some increases,” said McDonnell.

Additionally, he said the Shenandoah Valley is fast becoming a model for other parts of the state as a way for many different jurisdictions to work together to crack down on gang activity.