“Gang members commit crimes each and every day,” said Mark Bridgeman, president of the state Gang Investigators Association at a gang summit sponsored by the Halifax County Sheriff's Office. “We have to connect with each other. If we don't the gang members will win.”

Spotting signs of gang activity can be relatively easy, Bridgeman said. The wearing of one particular color over another could be a sign. Unexplained injuries are another as well as suddenly having unusual amounts of cash, clothes or jewelry.

Parents, Bridgeman said, are “Obligated to ask their children questions.”

Gang graffiti.

Gangs have located to North Carolina because of the relative ease of getting weapons to sell, Bridgeman said. Interstate 95 is considered the Iron Corridor by gang investigators because of the high volume of illegal weapons that are transported northward. A high-valued weapon can easily be exchanged for an ounce of powdered cocaine.

Halifax County is not alone. One-hundred gang members were recently arrested in Plymouth and Cathy Burnette, of the United States Attorney's Office said 90 gangs members in Henderson were recently arrested and convicted through the federal system. “We need task force officers to help us,” she said.”

Captain Wade Moseley at Caledonia Correctional Institution said gangs thrive on reputation, respect and retaliation.

Gang colors and signs.

Of the 5,316 verified security threat groups incarcerated in the state system, 90 percent are male and 10 percent are female.

Latino groups represent 49 percent of the security threat group population while 34 percent are African-American. Twelve percent are white and 5 percent are Asian.

Robert Fountain, of the state Department of Public Safety, told the group that parents need to be strict with their children. “It starts with a sense of entitlement. You're providing kids a place to stay. We must understand they pay for nothing unless they're paying rent,” he said, explaining parents have every right to know what their children are doing.

Dustin Wester, with the Rocky Mount Police Department Gang Unit, said 66 percent of all crimes committed in the city are gang-related.

Gang recruitment starts early, he said. “Sixty to 70 percent starts in middle school.”