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SANDY -- There are growing fears about gangs using the Internet to recruit new, younger members.
Police and researchers are concerned enough about the practice that they're starting to try to quantify how often this is happening.
It's a topic at the 19th annual Utah Gang Conference that ends Friday in Sandy.
A simple search of Facebook or MySpace yields many group pages for Blood, Crips, and other gangs.
A 2007 survey from the group iSAFE found 70 percent of gang members said it was easier to make friends online. The Deseret News reports only 27 percent of non-gang member in grades 5-12 surveyed said it was easier to feel accepted in online groups than at school.
According to the Deseret News, two assistant professors of criminal justice are posing as gang members online in order to collect data. The study is just beginning.
Police also are concerned about ‘net-banging,' in which rival gangs bully and threaten each other online.
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
