When 7-year-old Maria Del Carmen Menchaca became the victim of a drive-by shooting while playing near her Salt Lake City home a year ago Monday, a community rallied to demand an end to gang violence.

Politicians organized task forces, neighborhoods coordinated watch groups, and parents who shared tears at vigils for the little girl vowed to work together to protect their children.

Out of the frenzy emerged a question: What's the best way to stamp out gangs in Utah? A year later, the answer is unclear.

Authorities point to new resources, research and discussions that will serve as the framework for a long battle to come. Others argue efforts have not moved past lip service to address the urgency of the issue.

"The problem is that when you have a horrible crime take place, our community wants an answer to it immediately," said Salt Lake County District Attorney Lohra Miller, who co-chairs a task force started by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. "We have to know what is the right thing to do before we act. And that's not always easy."

For some like Frank Cordova, director of Utah Coalition de La Raza and vice president of the Centro Civico Mexicano, responses have been too slow. Cordova points to problems he says are tied to gang membership: poverty, lack of family structure and racism.

"What came out of [Maria's] death? A young person dying for no reason," he said.

Centro Civico Mexicano was one of several groups that organized a gang summit for parents after the murder. Like many, Cordova argues residents and parents must reach out to young people and find what's driving them into gangs. The task, he says, can't be left to police, prosecutors and probation officers.

Increased police presence

Maria's murder led the Salt Lake City Police Department to increase patrols in Glendale and surrounding neighborhoods where gang activity is reported, said Police Chief Chris Burbank.

His department fights gangs with 12 full-time officers and three detectives. The city trains all officers who may find themselves responding to situations involving gangs, and also gets help from the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office Metro Gang Unit.

Teams who specialize in gangs are immediately dispatched when there is a drive-by shooting, robbery or other gang crime.

"That first 24 or 48 hours is very critical in solving these things and from preventing crime from occurring again," Burbank said. "Especially when you're talking about gangs, retaliation comes very quickly."

Those efforts have paid off, said Salt Lake City Councilman Van Turner, whose district includes Glendale, Poplar Grove and part of Rose Park. He credited law enforcement for the neighborhood's drop in homicides so far this year, although statistics show other types of gang-related crime in the area haven't decreased.

"They made swings through the area and arrested a lot of undesirable people we had down there," Turner said. "We've been safer."

Salt Lake City police in March announced the new Gang Community Action Team (GangCAT) program. Police who run into kids on the street who are at-risk for gang involvement are now knocking on parents' doors along with representatives from nonprofit groups such as the Boys and Girls Clubs.

"We're reaching out to those families instead of waiting for them to come to us," said Lt. Isaac Atencio, who oversees Salt Lake City's gang unit.

Randy Doyle, who started a neighborhood watch after Menchaca's death last year, said gang activity has been cyclical in his Glendale neighborhood over the past year. His family used to see prostitutes and gang members in the alley behind their home on 1400 West, and last year watched a stabbing suspect tear through their yard to evade police. The family also awoke one morning to find the windows shot out of every car on the street.

"We still hear gunshots at night," he said. But police are quicker to cover up gang graffiti behind his home. And banding together as a neighborhood makes the Doyle family feel like people are looking out for each other.

Task force progress

Miller said the governor's task force is forging ahead with research and plans to write grants for new technology to help law enforcement better document gangs in Utah. Members from law enforcement, the courts, treatment providers, schools and community groups are trying to develop a unified response, she said. One study they commissioned looks at the perception of the state's gang problem by teachers, prosecutors and law enforcement. Another examines the types of responses by authorities that are most effective for each particular gang.

"What has changed is policy makers' willingness to get involved and to make addressing gang violence a priority," Miller said.

Another steering committee introduced by Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker has focused on implementing the "comprehensive gang model," which targets gang-involved youth younger than 22. It calls for agencies such as grass-roots volunteer organizations, law enforcement and the courts to work together through a mix of programs and community activities. Becker plans to hire gang outreach workers to implement the model.

Leticia Medina, a director for Colors of Success, an anti-gang program run in schools, said it's encouraging that task forces are looking to develop a long-term solution to gang issues.

The new model won't be "just five years and then it goes away ... that's the difference," said Medina, who co-chairs the steering committee assigned to oversee the model's implementation.

Is it enough?

Third District Juvenile Court Judge Andrew Valdez drives by memorials set up for Maria and other crime victims each day on his way to work from his house on the west side. Hearing up to 150 cases in his courtroom each week, the judge regularly sees parents stunned to learn their children -- some as young as 9 -- are involved with gangs.

A member of the governor's task force, Valdez says efforts aimed at parents haven't been aggressive enough. He's organizing a series of education seminars for parents of 9-,10- and 11-year-olds to share with them what he sees in court. The seminars will be put on at Mountain View and Riley elementary schools in September and October.

Since Maria's murder, Valdez said he offers advice to parents whose kids are in court on gang issues, citing her death as an example.

"I tell parents straight up in open court, 'Your son or daughter is in a gang. Do not let your other children play in the front yard,'" Valdez said.

"It's kind of a shocking thing for people to hear, but if Maria had not been playing in the front yard that day, she'd be alive."

mrogers@sltrib.com