Social media is the new 'graffiti' for gang members
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Social media is the new 'graffiti' for gang members
- March 29, 2012
- Al Valdez, social sciences lecturer, is quoted by KSL News Radio (Utah) March 28, 2012
From KSL News Radio:
Unified police detective Ken Hansen, a law enforcement veteran and the person responsible
for writing the grant in 1990 that started what would become the Salt Lake Area Gang
Project, gave one of the keynote addresses.... Gangs today are more violent, more
organized and are driven predominantly by money. Almost every time police make a raid
on a gang house today, they find stolen checks and IDs inside, Hansen said. Another
difference between 1990 and today is that 22 years ago, approximately 80 percent of
documented gang members were juveniles. Today, Hansen said, that number is just 8
percent. But what's not clear is how much of that is due to actual decreasing numbers,
and how much is due to younger gang members trying to stay more covert. While gang
membership is aging, Hansen said younger gang members have not gone away.... University
of California, Irvine professor Al Valdez, who delivered another keynote speech on
West Coast Latino gangs, said the Hispanic gangs of California no longer require their
members to get tattoos so they can blend in more with society. "It's all about money,"
Valdez said. "These kids don't present the same," Hansen added. "They don't have the
presentation in terms of colors and so forth. A lot of them look like regular kids."
Video link available at:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=960&sid=19771593&title=social-media-is-the-new-g...
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