FREDERICK, MD - Police say gangs are everywhere and they're getting more complicated. Gangs even recruit from elementary schools.
"Gangs are not relegated to one particular place, one town, one county, it's a regional issue," says Chief Kim Dine, Frederick City Police Chief.
According to the FBI, since 2009 the number of gang members across the United States has increased by 40%. Police think it's because there's new gangs with more aggressive recruitment, like finding new members through social media.
"Looking to feel special and powerful, those are reasons why people join gangs. Those are also reasons why non-lawbreakers join organizations and groups," says Chief Dine.
Frederick City Police say aside from making arrests, being proactive is the best way to crack down on gang-related crime.
"What's in our communities is in our schools, and what's in our schools is in our communities. What we need to do is we need to identify that target audience and through our preventative measures and our intervention techniques, establish the ground work to stop that where it starts," says Detective Robert Marker, Frederick City Police Detective.
Police Chief, Kim Dine, says the Frederick population's gone up, crime has actually gone down, but they've seen a rise in gangs. One concern is an increase in the number of illegal guns taken off the streets.
"There is some violence, there is gang on gang violence within Frederick City. We're able to quickly identify that, we're able to take steps to prevention efforts; not only dealing with community outreach, dealing with schools, dealing with parents," says Lieutenant Clark Pennington, Frederick City Police Lieutenant.
There's a visible group of skateboarders in Frederick, City Police decriminalized skating by making skate parks. This is just one of the many out-of-the-box steps to help keep kids out of gangs.
"Gangs are not relegated to one particular place, one town, one county, it's a regional issue," says Chief Kim Dine, Frederick City Police Chief.
According to the FBI, since 2009 the number of gang members across the United States has increased by 40%. Police think it's because there's new gangs with more aggressive recruitment, like finding new members through social media.
"Looking to feel special and powerful, those are reasons why people join gangs. Those are also reasons why non-lawbreakers join organizations and groups," says Chief Dine.
Frederick City Police say aside from making arrests, being proactive is the best way to crack down on gang-related crime.
"What's in our communities is in our schools, and what's in our schools is in our communities. What we need to do is we need to identify that target audience and through our preventative measures and our intervention techniques, establish the ground work to stop that where it starts," says Detective Robert Marker, Frederick City Police Detective.
Police Chief, Kim Dine, says the Frederick population's gone up, crime has actually gone down, but they've seen a rise in gangs. One concern is an increase in the number of illegal guns taken off the streets.
"There is some violence, there is gang on gang violence within Frederick City. We're able to quickly identify that, we're able to take steps to prevention efforts; not only dealing with community outreach, dealing with schools, dealing with parents," says Lieutenant Clark Pennington, Frederick City Police Lieutenant.
There's a visible group of skateboarders in Frederick, City Police decriminalized skating by making skate parks. This is just one of the many out-of-the-box steps to help keep kids out of gangs.
