More than 70 alleged members of the transnational gang MS-13 have been arrested in Anne Arundel County over a three-year period, according to county officials who say there are as many as 200 members of the gang in the region.

County Executive Steve Schuh noted those numbers Monday as county officials received a $550,000 grant from the state to combat gangs. The Annapolis Police Department was allocated $285,869, according to the Office of Crime Control and Prevention, which awarded the grants.

The grants are part of the Gov. Larry Hogan’s Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network. The network will include 13 other municipalities and counties to make what officials say will allow more cohesive communication and data sharing to curb gang-related crime.

Anne Arundel Police Chief Timothy Altomare said the network, “is a great way for us … to get better and stronger in the fight and to fight the people who profit — the head of the snake that profits from creating and maintaining criminal organizations that either push poison out into the community or prey upon innocents.”

Police say they have arrested suspected MS-13 members tied to three murders of Annapolis-area residents. Schuh said the arrests were a result of “the already strong partnerships to combat gangs that we have been building in this county for more than three years.”

County police spokesman Marc Limansky said Schuh’s comments regarding MS-13 gang members were based on numbers kept internally at the department. But he added that, despite them being charged, he would not release names of those arrested on suspicion of being a MS-13 member in fear of jeopardizing a larger investigation into the gang.

State’s Attorney Wes Adams said the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network is a “natural outgrowth” of the Strategic Targeted Investigation on Narcotics and Gangs, which the county created last year after a similar $250,000 grant.

Adams’ office will be awarded about $300,000 under the latest grant.

The core of STING was a piece of software Adams said would better integrate crime reporting data from various levels of law enforcement. The goal was to incorporate federal, state and local data to be more efficient when tracking criminal enterprises across jurisdictions, something officials stressed again Monday with the new funding.

The chief said the department will “get better and stronger at using the existing intelligence out there and sharing it across jurisdictional lines so that we’re better in the region. ... So that line on a map won’t stop us at going after the bad guys.”

pdavis@capgaznews.com