HOUSTON – Neighborhood gangs are operating in smart, savvy ways in the Houston area and that’s why they want minors to carry out the dirty work, according to FBI Houston.
For the last year, the FBI has been focused on a violent crime crackdown across the Houston area, targeting 10 specific zip codes deemed Houston’s most dangerous and prone to violent, gang-related crimes.
In an exclusive interview with KPRC 2, FBI Houston’s Acting Special Agent in Charge David Martinez said gangs are not operating with “cookie cutter definitions” anymore.
SEE MORE: The top 10 most dangerous zip codes being targeted by FBI Houston; Is yours on the list?
“People that are members of gangs one day may affiliate with another gang, the next day, whatever they can do for more drugs, more money, more guns, whatever is advantageous,” Martinez said.
Some of the violent, gang-related crimes focused on by the FBI include murder, carjacking, home invasion, trafficking, and drug crimes.
“We have seen a trend towards targeting, recruiting and utilization of minors, specifically for the purpose of avoiding significant jail sentences,” Martinez said. “They can carry out devastating amounts of crime and violence, knowing that they’ll be back on the street with minimal amount of time and have the ability to re-offend very, very quickly.”
Martinez said it’s hard to charge juveniles in the state system and even more difficult to charge them federally. By using minors, gang leaders are more able to keep their hands clean.
“All towards the goal of just getting more and more drugs, violence and, you know, whatever is going to create any amount of profit,” Martinez said.
According to data provided by the Houston Police Department, violent crime across the city is down 8.49 percent compared to last year. Murder and robbery have seen the most significant drops, while kidnappings and sexual assaults are up.
But the FBI said criminals aren’t stopping in Houston.
“A lot of it starts here,” Martinez said. “They’ll travel across state lines in some cases, and they export their violence. And the techniques that other people will try to replicate because they do have success with them. You know, it is not uncommon to have other FBI investigations that have investigations on crews operating here in Houston from other areas of the country.”
For the last year, the FBI has been working to combat crime in the 10 zip codes deemed the most dangerous.
Based on an analysis of HPD data, an FBI spokesperson said violent gang-related crimes have dropped 22 percent in the southwest Houston zip codes and 47 percent in the southeast Houston zip codes being targeted, when comparing the first three quarters of this fiscal year to the first three quarters of last fiscal year.