Knox County Sheriff Detective Thomas Walker to conduct meeting

The Blount Partnership is holding a free information session regarding gang awareness in Blount County on Friday, March 18, 2016, from 8:30-9:30 a.m., in its boardroom located at 201 S. Washington St. in Maryville.

Knox County Sheriff detective Thomas Walker will lead the presentation which is free and open to the public. The main focus is on what business owners should know about gangs in the area.

“As recent news reports indicate, gang related activity is a growing problem in Blount County with a number of businesses being targeted in the last few months,” said Blount Partnership President/CEO Bryan Daniels. “We want to give our business stakeholders an opportunity to find out more about this activity from law enforcement and things they can do to protect their property.”

Walker is a 12-year member of the FBI Gang and Drug Task Force and has undergone more than 700 hours of training on street gangs. He has even published an article on “Street Gangs: A Subculture in the United States” for National Honor Society Magazine.

Over the last 10 years, Walker has taught nearly 500 classes on street gangs, bringing his knowledge to over 21,000 community leaders, business owners and the general populace.

Currently, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office Homeland Security / Gang Intelligence Unit maintains a data base of approximately 1,550 gang members in the Knox and Blount County areas.