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Gangs trying to make inroads in Howard County


MS-13 primary concern for police
04/06/06
By Luke Broadwater


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When Howard County police talk of gangs, they lump them into two categories: the "wannabes" and MS-13.

The "wannabes," as police chief Wayne Livesay calls them, are local boys who grew up together, wear the same clothing and imitate gangs they've seen or heard of through television, movies and music.

Such gangs can be dangerous.

"The thing about the wannabes is they're set on proving themselves," said police officer Pfc. Kelly Smith, Howard's representative on a multi-jurisdictional task force that tracks and arrests gang members. "They get involved in beatings and stabbings. The wannabes can be dangerous because they are trying to make a name for themselves."

But these gangs normally disappear once their leaders are arrested.

"The neighborhood gangs tend to wax and wane," said Sgt. George Belleville, an expert on gang violence in Howard County. "They're stealing cars, but when they lose their leader - he moves away or gets locked up - they dissolve."

MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, is another matter entirely, however, police said.

The violent, aggressive gang, which is considered to be one of the most dangerous in America, is a serious concern for local police who want to stop the organization from making inroads in Howard County.

Gang wants to dominate

Police say MS-13, a Hispanic gang, is motivated by different factors than those that motivate the gangs that dominate the drug trade in many American cities.

"They don't primarily deal in drugs," Smith said. "They love the violence. They do it to intimidate. Unlike the Crips and the Bloods, who basically wanted to make money, for MS-13 it's all about power."

Roughly translated, Mara Salvatrucha means something like "tough Salvadoran posse," police said. The "13" in the name is rumored to have a number of different roots, including symbolizing the street in east Los Angeles where the gang traces its origins; the number of minutes a prospective member must be beaten in order to join the gang; or simply the 13th letter in the alphabet, M.

County police began to notice signs of MS-13's presence in Howard in 1999, when citizens began sharing their concerns about the gang's activity during community meetings.

In 2000, county police were aware of the gang's presence in northern Virginia, and Montgomery and Prince George's counties. At the same time, several other Hispanic gangs emerged as rivals to MS-13 in the region.

With each year that followed, local police noticed an increase in the criminal activity Mara Salvatrucha caused within the county. In 2001, police made their first arrests of MS-13 members in the county.

Since, police have documented 57 incidents and identified 55 MS-13 members who have been arrested for or involved in crimes that include rape, robbery and assault, and have documented the gang's activity and graffiti in Savage, Elkridge, Columbia and Ellicott City.

Members passing through

Most local MS-13 activity results from members who live in other counties passing through Howard, Smith said.

"There are no cliques that have turf claimed in Howard County," he said. "Some of these guys have Howard County addresses, but operate in Prince George's County. Mostly, we are seeing them as they travel between D.C. and Baltimore."

Police attribute that gang's emergence in the region in part to a growing number of Hispanic residents in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. In Howard County, the population of Hispanics has grown by 102 percent from 1990 to 2000.

"As we have seen with many other immigrant communities, a small element of the population turns to criminal activity," Smith testified last year to a U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating Hispanic gangs. "Often they start out by preying on members of their own community. Much of this crime goes unreported."

Murray Simon, president of Conexiones, a Hispanic advocacy group, said gang activity is a concern.

"Gangs tend to prey on children with low self-esteem who are struggling in school. It's our goal to have Hispanic kids excel in school so they feel good about themselves."

Howard County police assigned Smith to a federal task force in 2004 as one of several steps the department has taken to combat the region's gang problem. Smith's presence on the task force contributes to the department's "intelligence" of regional gangs and provides police with experience in fighting the gangs.

For his efforts on the task force, police this year named Smith the department's Officer of the Year.

County police also participate in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Gang Information Network, in which local jurisdictions share information about gangs and have increased the amount of training given to officers regarding gangs.

Speaking to Congress, Smith described local police initiatives to control and eradicate gang violence as a "work in progress."

"From a local perspective, the emergence of organized street gangs like MS-13 is one of the most important issues that we have faced in the last decade," he testified. "Their prevalence, fluidity and sophistication have forced us to change how we organize and train our members to safeguard the community."

E-mail Luke Broadwater at Luke Broadwater@patuxent.com