Montgomery Fighting Gangs on Several Fronts

"We would be foolish to concentrate our efforts in other areas," Manger said.

Reports of gang-related crimes and their severity have slowly crept up, Wennar said, citing recent fights and other incidents in Shady Grove and Silver Spring.

The challenge for authorities reaching out to Hispanic adults is to overcome some immigrants' fear of approaching police because of bad experiences in their native countries or consequences related to their immigration status, said Diego Uriburu, deputy executive director of Identity, an organization that helps Latino youths.

Officials said they try to assure local victims and people with information about gangs that immigration status should not be an obstacle to justice.

"We're not going to ask about immigration status," Baliles said. "Who they are is not important; what they know seems to be very important to us."

Overcoming that distrust is a key to tapping into the Hispanic community's knowledge of gang activity and other crimes, said Joe Heiney-Gonzalez, Latino/Hispanic liaison to County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D).

For hundreds of local Latinos, Hurtado is the face of the county police department. He goes to churches and addresses services. He speaks to thousands of public school students, and he attends parent-teacher sessions.

When Latinos find a county or police officer with whom they can relate or communicate comfortably -- often after the officer speaks or appears on local Spanish language media outlets -- they flood that person with complaints, pleas for help and advice on how to solve gang issues at home, Hurtado said, detailing his own experiences.

"It gets overwhelming, and people come to me because, I tell you, they trust me," he said. "Some of the stories, I wish I had a magic wand to help people."