CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new report shows young people in the Charlotte area are a target for gang members. That report shows gangs have grown statewide and high concentrations of them are in Mecklenburg and Gaston counties.
A report released this year by the Governor's Crime Commission shows 982 reported gangs in North Carolina. That's up percent from 2008. It also shows that Mecklenburg and Gaston counties have some of the highest number of gang numbers in the state.
Officers said interstates throughout the counties may be magnets for organized crime.
"That provides easy quick transportation from one city to another ... as far as supplying drugs .. but leaving one city and getting to another one faster," said Capt. Mike Lari of the Gastonia Police Department.
The majority of gang members in North Carolina are between the ages of 18 and 25, so police are being proactive, by reaching out to kids before gang members do.
"It's important for us to get that seed planted in them that gangs are bad and they need to stay away from them."
The report also highlighted a need for gang prevention in low-income areas that show high concentrations of gang activity.
WSOC
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