The District Attorney’s new Gang Unit is responsible for working directly with the Dallas Police Department’s Gang Unit on offenses that occur throughout the City of Dallas and with other local agencies regarding other areas of Dallas County known to have gang problems. The Gang Unit focuses on the targeted areas of Pleasant Grove, North Oak Cliff and South Dallas, by getting out in the streets with gang officers, collecting information on gangs and coordinating an intake process that creates strategies to aggressively prosecute gang-related crimes.

The unit also has a Special Assistant United States Attorney (SAUSA) assigned to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. The SAUSA prosecutes violent gun-related and gang-related crimes that are filed with the District Attorney’s Gang Unit by local law enforcement agencies, but that can be more aggressively prosecuted at the federal level due to the availability of stiffer penalties. The unit also participates in community events and conferences to promote gang awareness and gang prevention.