Gangs OR Us now has a new web site where the men and women who work gangs in the law enforcement, corrections, and other Criminal Justice professions can provide their expertise to others by adding their own gang related photographs, videos and information.

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The Business of Gangs, Gang Members, and Gang Identification

Gangs are our business and we wish to thank you for for choosing our web site, Gangs OR Us, to learn about gangs. 

On our many pages you will find over 1200 external gang videos and text links about street gangs and prison gangs that will teach about  street gangs and prison gangs, gang identification of  clothing, colors, graffiti, marks, and tattoos, investigations, prosecutions, rivalries, and alliances.  

When you are ready to begin your search for information, click  the categories in the menu on the left side.  These categories will take you to many topics concerning street gangs, their prison gang counter-parts and how to identify them.  Enjoy your visit and please feel free to come back often.

Where do we find gangs??

Odds are that you have street gangs in your community.  Gangs are no longer confined to the large urban communities. They are now found in many of the smallest of towns across America and are no longer just low income, poorly educated, drop-outs from society. Gang members are now found to be a mixture of ALL races, cultures and ethnicities. No longer do the members come from a one parent family who is never available to show love and guidance to the child. Our youth of today are sometimes joining gangs even though they live with both parents who are in the middle income or even the upper income segments of society.

Too often the phrase, “We don’t have gangs in our community” is uttered by the city fathers, the police, the chamber of commerce or the tourist bureau. This is often followed by, “All we have are a bunch of wannabes.” The inference here is that since the gangs in the community didn’t originate in Los Angeles or Chicago, they aren’t real gangs. Nothing could be further from the truth. If a group of youths in your community have banned together and call themselves by a particular name; if they use signs, symbols and or colors; and if they are committing crimes; they are a gang – regardless of what members of the community say.

It is easy to understand why any community, large or small, might deny the existence of gangs within the community - no community wants the stigma of having gangs.  However, by denying the existence of gang activity, the community is doing the gangs a favor - they are allowing the gangs to develop, grow stronger in numbers and develop a power base.

Gangs Have Gone Global

As previously stated, gangs are not confined to any particular area of the United States nor are they confined to the United States.  Although their numbers are smaller, gangs are now known to exist in several European countries, the United Kingdom, Africa and even down under - Australia.  These gangs present the same problems to their respective communities and law enforcement as those in the United States.

Our Goal

Since 1999, the goal of Gangs OR Us has been to provide law enforcement and corrections personnel, parents, teachers, and concerned citizens, the assistance and knowledge necessary for gang identification and to determine if street gangs or prison gangs are in your community or your state's prison and jail facilities.  Most importantly, this web site will help those who lack the awareness to recognize the fact that a son or daughter, who may also be a student is practicing the gang culture in the home or school.

Gangs OR Us, in addition to being used by law enforcement agencies as an online source for gang identification, is frequently recommended in newspapers and other printed matter.  Also, Gangs OR Us has been recommended in nationally known law enforcement magazines and was highlighted as one of three gang identification web sites recommended in The Federal Bureau of Investigation monthly publication of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (Dec 01). 

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