Police, sheriff's units tackle growing Seattle-area gang problem

Tearing through the winding streets of the Central Area and Rainier Valley at 70 mph last Friday night, Seattle gang detectives Jim Dyment and Tom Mooney experienced an unsettling déjà vu — it was the third shooting they had responded to in a week.

As they drew near the scene of a drive-by shooting, Dyment and Mooney saw a group of officers gathered around five teens who sat handcuffed on a sidewalk in the Rainier Beach neighborhood. The hands of two teens were eventually wrapped in brown-paper sacks to protect any telltale gunpowder residue.

Dyment, a sergeant who has spent years investigating drugs, prostitutes and youth violence, muttered to no one in particular: "Being a gangster is a young man's sport."

And chasing gang members is becoming a full-time priority for police officers and sheriff's deputies throughout the Puget Sound region, where authorities say gang membership is surging. From graffiti spray-painted on a mailbox in Kent's West Hill neighborhood to recent shootings at area shopping malls, police say crimes associated with gangs appear to be on the upswing.

Police say they have identified more than 200 gangs in the Puget Sound region and say that many people, mostly teenage boys and men in their 20s, who claim allegiance to these groups are behind an increasing amount of crime.

"The gang problem is a regional problem, not a city problem or a precinct problem," Dyment said as he and Mooney patrolled South Seattle last week. "We're just one aspect of the solution."

In Southwest King County, the region's most concentrated gang territory, the King County Sheriff's Office's newly minted gang task force hit the streets last Friday.

Hard to get a handle

Gauging the scope of the problem is difficult because there are no hard numbers, police say. Without a nationally accepted definition of what constitutes a gang, many law-enforcement agencies don't categorize or track the number of crimes committed by suspected gang members. It's not illegal to be a gang member, police say, so instead of trying to determine someone's gang membership, many agencies focus on criminal behavior.

A measure passed by the state Legislature this year will allow law enforcement for the first time to create a statewide database of suspected gang members that's available for police use. The new law also increases penalties for adults who recruit juveniles and allows for cities to apply for state money to help fight gang crime.

The State Patrol is in the midst of building a database of identified gang members across the state, Sgt. Freddie Williams said.

Even without hard numbers, police say they're encountering more gang-related crimes, and not just in Seattle neighborhoods that have traditionally seen heavy gang activity. Places like Northgate and Queen Anne are seeing problems.

Since January, gang detectives have investigated several fatal shootings, including the deaths of DéChé Morrison, 14, in Rainier Valley on Jan. 10, and Allen Joplin, 17, at a school party in Lower Queen Anne on Jan. 3.

Early Wednesday, gang officers responded to a shooting outside Angie's Tavern in Columbia City. A 24-year-old man was shot twice in the stomach when he was trying to leave the bar. Police said he is expected to live.

Lt. Ron Wilson, who runs the Seattle police gang unit, said the case is under investigation. He didn't have additional details about the people involved.

Almost any night of the week, members of the Seattle Police Department's 13-officer gang unit can be seen driving though the Central Area, Rainier Valley, West Seattle and downtown trying to befriend teens loitering on street corners, even taking photos of some youths to familiarize more officers with the faces that are seen most often. The officers analyze graffiti as well as respond to shootings, stabbings and other violent crimes.

The 15-member sheriff's office gang unit will be run out of the Southwest Precinct and focus on the neighborhoods of White Center, Burien and Skyway — the same area where, in December 2006, Deputy Steve Cox was shot and killed by gang member Raymond Porter.

Although the deputies who work in these neighborhoods have long dealt with the area's gang problems, Cox's death attracted the public's attention to the problem.

"It's sad that deputies have to be killed to get a public thrust," said sheriff's Maj. Jim Graddon.

The Metropolitan King County Council approved funding to dedicate one sergeant and two deputies to gang patrol. The sheriff's office added the other deputies through a $297,000 federal grant. All 700 sheriff's deputies will receive gang training, and a community outreach is planned to assess how residents feel about their safety.

Gabe Morales, a local gang-prevention specialist, worked on the legislative measure but is disappointed that more money has not been appropriated to pay for programs to dissuade youths from joining street gangs. Morales believes that police departments should be dedicating officers to community outreach — getting to know teens in the schools and at the community centers — not creating teams of officers who race to 911 calls and radio call-outs in search of gang crime.

"They're just dealing with crisis. They're not doing that walk-and-talk stuff that prevents the violence," Morales said.

Southwest King County

In Southwest King County alone this year, three new street gangs have put down roots, said sheriff's gang Detective Joe Gagliardi.

Police believe they're seeing more activity in Burien, White Center, Skyway and SeaTac because gang members are moving here after being pushed out by tougher laws in other states. They see Washington state as profitable ground — a place where they can make money from drug dealing, prostitution and identity theft, said sheriff's Capt. D.J. Nesel, who is in charge of the gang task force.

In Snohomish County, sheriff's Detective Steve Haley said police are seeing gangs or people who identify themselves as gang members in even the most rural of neighborhoods.

"The southwest corner of the county is our real dense urban area, but that's where we have our most gang members, but they're even going out to smaller areas and causing problems," said Haley, who is helping create an eight-member gang unit.

In unincorporated King County, deputies believe that the well-known street gang Mara Salvatrucha, known as MS-13, is regrouping in the area after the recent release of two top members from prison. According to the FBI, MS-13 is a violent street gang that started in Los Angeles and has moved into more than 40 states across the country. The gang comprises mostly Central American and South American immigrants, and has an estimated 10,000 members nationwide.

"Recruiting hard"

Gangs are changing and growing, Nesel said. Some are playing down their dangerous image, making tattoos and marking colors less obvious so they're more appealing to young new recruits.

"They're really recruiting hard," Nesel said.

The recruiting can start as early as age 5; Gagliardi said he's seen it in one Burien apartment complex dominated by a Hispanic gang.

The gang members start befriending younger kids, paying the kids to hang out with them. Soon, the kids are running errands for a little more money. Then, gang members have the kids standing watch on the corner, whistling when the cops pull up, Gagliardi said.

"They start to brainwash them," Gagliardi said.

In Snohomish County, the sheriff's office and several city police departments are combating youth recruitment by forming a gang unit made up of school resource officers, Haley said.

Next month, eight police officers will start patrolling streets across the county to continue the work they started last summer.

"Last year their main job was to identify gang members. This year it's enforcement purposes: Identify known gang members and interdict what they're doing and to influence the gang lifestyle," Haley said.

The Snohomish County gang unit is temporary, together only while school is out for summer, but Haley hopes the county will devote officers to investigate gang crimes on a permanent basis.

Officers across the region say they worry most about the younger gang members.

"The hard-core guys are running the show, telling the teenagers what to do. The teenagers are trying to prove themselves," Haley said. "They are a lot more unpredictable, more willing to make the bad decisions."

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com