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Whether they
are visible to most of us or not, there are gangs in Lexington that are
engaged in criminal activity. Officer Todd
Phillips, Gang Resource Officer - Criminal Gang Activities of the
Lexington Metro Police Department told Kiwanians on Tuesday that there
are 11-12 active gangs at any one time operating in the Lexington area. There are usually 330-400 total members in these gangs.
Gangs have been a presence in Lexington for many years but in the past they usually grew within their own area. They didn’t spread beyond their own “turf”. Now the media glamorizes gangs and their influence spreads to other areas.
The most dangerous gang members are the new recruits - often as young as 12 or 13 years old. These
new recruits feel they have to prove themselves worthy of gang
membership so they are increasingly daring in the crimes that they
commit. Not only are they told to sell
drugs, spread graffiti, commit robberies, etc., they are often asked to
prove their toughness with acts of violence against others. An
increasing number of these young gang members are female and they are
often more dangerous than their male counterparts because they feel
they have more to prove.
Officer Phillips works with the CLEAR unit of the Special
Operations department . The unit uses a three-pronged approach to the
problem of gang activities: (1)Enforcement, (2) Education, and (3)
Prevention.
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