Course Summary:

In this 2-hour course, Fairfax County Detective Ray Betts will provide an abbreviated look into one of the most violent gangs that has plagued certain portions of the United States, La Mara Salvatrucha 13, better known as MS-13. Detective Betts will give an overview of the gang, which will include the origins of MS-13, the immigration and migration of the gangs’ members, and what they are doing today. He will provide examples of gang indicators consisting of clothing attire, tattoos, hairstyles, and the like. 

The class attendees will also receive information on the current trends of MS-13, hotspots for the gang throughout the country, and their propensity for violence. Detective Betts will conclude his training with a short case study, which will demonstrate how an investigation takes shape, and the important roles interpreters hold during and after such investigations. Class attendees will leave with not only an understanding of how MS-13 operates, the terminology that they will encounter, but more importantly, they will understand their importance, and law enforcement’s need, for interpreters in MS-13 investigations.

About the Instructor:

Detective Ray Betts has been a sworn law enforcement officer since 1999. He is a member of the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia, and is currently assigned to the department’s Gang Investigations Unit. Ray began his career as a patrol officer, where he worked the midnight shift for five years.  During that time, he dealt with local gangs and crews, along with a few MS-13 members. 

In 2005, Ray was selected to become a member of the Neighborhood Patrol Unit, and he was also named as one of the Gang Coordinators for district he served. Ray started focusing solely on gang investigations in 2007, when he was selected to join the Gang Investigations Unit. Ray has been with the unit for 14 years now, and his hopes are he will stay there until he retires.

In addition to being a Gang Detective, Ray is also a Task Force Officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigations. He became a TFO in 2009, and has been solely investigating MS-13 ever since. Ray has traveled throughout the United States to assist other jurisdictions in their investigations, and to provide training to law enforcement. Ray has also traveled to El Salvador to work with the Trans-National Gang Unit, and to provide training to Central American law enforcement on MS-13.

Ray absolutely loves his job and his multiple responsibilities, but one part of his job that truly drives him to continue investigating MS-13 is because the gang preys on the Hispanic community. Ray has seen it happen too many times - families leave Central America to find a new life in the states away from gangs.  They take up residency in a Hispanic community, and soon afterward they find themselves being intimidated and victimized by the gang. At times, this victimization entails murder. Ray continues his fight in hopes he can bring some peace to those in the community that are only trying to live the American dream.