EPHRATA - The Grant County Board of Commissioners approved a request from the prosecutor's office to transform the Traffic Enforcement Deputy Prosecutor position into a full-time gang prosecution position.

In light of recent gang shootings in the Larson Housing area, Grant County Prosecutor Angus Lee requested the change for six to 12 months to form a multi-pronged Gang Prosecution Taskforce. It will include the current gang prosecutor in superior court, a juvenile court prosecutor and a district court prosecutor dedicated to preventing and prosecuting gang activity.

The traffic enforcement prosecutor position was created in 2012. Lee called for an immediate need for repurposing the position as an extra gang prosecutor.

"We need to be capable of prosecuting gang members aggressively in each and every courtroom of Grant County at the same time," Lee wrote in a letter to commissioners. "Although we have maintained and improved on the capabilities of the gang prosecution position, I believe that a single position with a gang emphasis is no longer enough."

The prosecutor's office received a federal gang prosecution grant in 2010 which fully funded the current deputy prosecutor position. As a result, Lee said his office has seen significant convictions and improvements in public safety, particularly in Royal City and Quincy, where many of the most active gang members have been convicted and sentenced to long-term prison confinement.