McVeigh said the move was inspired by public concern about crime after the slaying of Anniston Police Officer Justin Sollohub and other homicides in the past few weeks. However, it’s not clear that the gangs being investigated were linked to those killings.
The crackdown will involve “compiling information and statistics on those involved in gang activity,” according to a press release McVeigh sent out Monday afternoon.
McVeigh said he met with Sheriff Larry Amerson and with police chiefs from Anniston, Jacksonville, Oxford and Piedmont Monday morning to discuss ways to shut down the Taliban Clan and YNTO -– two gangs McVeigh says are operating in the Anniston area.
“These are new gangs,” he said. “The Taliban Clan has gone from nonexistent to a substantial membership in a short period of time.”
McVeigh said he defines “gang” as “a group of people in a geographic area who dress in similar clothing and are united in a criminal enterprise.”
Police believe the Taliban Clan operates out of Norwood Homes in Anniston, McVeigh said, and may have more than 100 members. Oliver Jackson, 17, was killed in a shooting in Norwood in August, but McVeigh said it was too early to say whether a gang was involved in that shooting.
YNTO, McVeigh said, has around 25 members and operates out of Constantine Homes and Hobson City. Asked what YNTO stood for, McVeigh said “that’s a good question.”
McVeigh said he called the law-enforcement agencies together to begin sharing information about the groups. He said the meeting marked the beginning of a period in which police would be keeping tabs on suspected gang mem-bers. He said law enforcement would take steps to arrest suspected gang members who have outstanding warrants. He didn’t offer additional specifics of the operation.
“We’re going to start targeting individuals and groups to disable the hierarchies,” he said.
McVeigh said he called the Monday meeting in response to calls he’s received from the public in the wake of the shooting of Solluhub and other recent high-profile crimes.
There have been nine homicides in Anniston so far this year, three of them within the last month. In 2010, there were only eight homicides in all of Calhoun County.
“Members of the public have been calling the office and saying are y’all going to do anything,” he said.
McVeigh said there was no indisputable evidence of a connection between the two gangs and the recent spate of homicides. However, he said gang activity probably was related to recent incidents in which people threw bottles at police responding to a call.
Local police chiefs were tight-lipped about the new crackdown.
“If I tell you what we’re doing, they’ll know everything you know,” said Oxford Police Chief Bill Patridge.
McVeigh said he announced the crackdown Monday to secure public support for the effort.
“If we don’t publicly announce this, that we’re doing something, we’re not going to be able to get people to participate,” he said.
McVeigh said local residents can call tips in to the Drug and Violent Crime Task Force at 256-231-1800 or the District Attorney’s Office at 256-231-1770.
