As gangs make their way to Loudoun, Commonwealth Attorney Robert Anderson wants public safety agencies to improve cooperation, coordination and communication to push them out.
"The problem is one that is growing," Anderson told the Board of Supervisors at the July 7 board meeting. "We're not at the level we need to be to address this problem."
In 2002, the Commonwealth Attorney's Office handled 49 mob violence cases from the Leesburg Police Department and 32 such cases from the Sheriff's Office, a breakdown of 60-40. The year before, the breakdown was 80-20 for 16 police cases and 4 from the Sheriff's Office.
Anderson asked the Board of Supervisors to support gang prosecution initiatives by his office. He cannot prosecute cases as mob or conspiracy cases unless they are investigated as such, he said, mentioning two investigators employed by his office who have experience in SWAT teams and gang investigations. Public safety agencies need to be able to tie in as many people as they can to damage the gang organizations, he said.
"They [gangs] are organized, and they're well funded," Anderson said. He requested the board enforce cooperation, coordination and communication among public safety agencies, giving the Commonwealth Attorney's office the ability to prosecute those involved as actors in the cases.
"That is not happening right now," Anderson said. He mentioned the office holding monthly chief meetings for more than seven years at the Leesburg Police Department, none of which the Sheriff has attended, he said. "These are policy issues. It's not a one-way dialogue," he said, adding that if the chiefs or sheriff do not attend, they receive the information second-hand and will not be as effective in implementing and putting new ideas forward. He said Sheriff Stephen Simpson sends a representative in his place.
Chairman Scott York (R-At large) said if Simpson is not attending the meetings, "it's disturbing to me."
Simpson did not return phone calls by deadline.