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They call it cause for concern.

The Rio Grande Valley's elected leaders are sounding off as problems with drug cartel continue to grow south of the border.

Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said local officials are keeping a close eye on the situation.

"There's many factors one is we're close to the border, drugs have a lot to do with it," Lucio said.

Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell agrees.

"The drug cartel violence and that kind of activity does bleed into our neighborhood," he said.

Boswell said some gang member delinquency begins at a young age, typically between the 5th and 6th grades.

It's a prime age for neighborhood gang initiation that graduates into higher levels of violence.

Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said that participation continues through adulthood and he sees the high numbers of adult gang mebers in his jails.

"Maybe 35 to 40 precent, maybe a higher percentage, are people that belong to a gang or another," Lucio said.

It's in jail where the sheriff said neighborhood street gang members come in contact with major gangs that include the Vallucos, Texas Syndicate and even MS-13.

“Then they get out of there and come into the community and they become still a bigger part of that," Lucio said.

The proof is right in our backyards. 

Case in point, a teen last month in Donna gunned down after a gang fight at a park.

In Harlingen, just four months ago, a police officer was shot point-blank in his unit.

While no one claims to know how to make the violence stop, Boswell and others agree, intervention begins at a young age. 

Either at home with parents and or at school with an education adding that the best offense may be a positive defense.

"We wanna give them a better way and a better life not one that’s filled with violence and death," Boswell said.