APD Keeping Up with Gangs to Monitor Cartels

The Austin Police Department's gang unit has taken to the streets in order to "document gang members and trace their narcotics-dealing efforts back to Mexican drug cartels."

Police Cmdr. Donald Baker explains that the department has opted to take a less aggressive approach in dealing with drug dealers by trying to gain information about higher-up members of gangs rather than just street-level soldiers.

Gangs in Austin vary from many other major cities in the country in that well-known organizations like the Crips and Bloods don't have a strict hierarchy or large presence. However, other gangs have a tighter command of the area such as the Mexican Mafia prison gang, the Bandidos motorcycle gang and more recently, the Texas prison gang known as Tango Blast.

Although different in some ways, these gangs are performing basically the same activities: selling large amounts of narcotics like marijuana, cocaine, heroin and increasingly methamphetamine which has been sold to them by the Mexican cartels. Austin-area DEA leader Greg Thrash confirms that "a lot of the street sales (of drugs) around the country are supplied by Mexican cartels." Estimates of cartel-provided drugs around the United States include around 90 percent of the country's cocaine and almost all of its methamphetamine.

Cmdr. Baker explains how the department often looks at what is happening on the border in order to know what to expect for Austin in the near future. He especially expressed his concern with the growing number of juvenile members of gangs. After a noticeable decrease in the 80s, a police study has shown a surge of 14 percent in documented youth gang members up to 748 this July after 658 at the same time last year. Police speculate that this increase could be due to the increased amount of money that the cartels bring which the youth see as an opportunity to make some fast cash. Baker contends that "they're getting into situations they don't understand. They don't know who they're dealing with in the cartels. And then it's hard for these kids to get out."

Baker believes that the large increase of Hispanics into the Texas and U.S. population does not have anything to do with the increase in cartel activity. What is troublesome though, is if the gangs begin to fight over drug supplies or the cartels choose to "lock down" a market like Austin, likely leading to extreme acts of violence.

Michael Lauderdale, chairman of Austin's Public Saftey Commission and a UT social work professor, worries about if the cartels decide to utilize American gangs to do their dirty work. Lauderdale explains that these types of situations have sprung up in cities like El Paso, where gang members of Barrio Azteca, an El Paso-centric gang, began performing murders for the Juárez cartel. "(The cartel) got them involved in distribution and muscle. I'm concerned cops will have to tackle a more toxic, fearsome foe than they ever have before."

Baker asserts that the department can only do so much because the real root of the problem lies with the U.S. "You've got to quit the demand, and the demand is us, Americans," Baker holds. "If we quit having the drug cravings, and quit purchasing it, it will dry up. Until that happens, we cannot stop what's coming across the border."

To view the Statesmen article on the issue, go here: http://bit.ly/omAkFN.

October 11, 2011

---

News

City officials respond to Occupy Austin at Public Safety Commission meeting

Assistant City Manager Michael McDonald attended the Public Safety Commission’s December 5th meeting to address ongoing questions over city officials’ handling of the Occupy Austin movement.

Police enforce jaywalking law to curb fatalities

A sharp increase of pedestrian-related fatalities this year has led police to ramp-up enforcement to keep Austinites safe -- even if it's just a matter of crossing the street.

more News

From the Blog

Immigration crackdown creates burden for foster care system

The San Antonio Current reports on a by-product of the federal crackdown of illegal immigrants that made 2011 a banner year for deportations: The children left behind as natural-born citizens often must be absorbed by the foster-care system

Buda Police Celebrate One-Year Mark

The Austin suburb of Buda celebrated the one-year anniversary of its newly established police force, Wednesday, October 18, 2011

DPS Warns Parents: Mexican Gangs Recruiting Youths

Mexican cartels could be recruiting Texas high school students to aid their drug, human, currency and weapon smuggling operations, warns the Texas Department of Safety (DPS)

blog

From Twitter

twitter.com/gacc97

twitter.com/401k9

twitter.com/txcafd