Gang Crimes Are Growing

Gang-related crimes rose by nearly 25% across Tennessee in 2011.
Citing statistics from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, The Tennessean reports that such crimes have more than doubled since 2005. But the real story isn’t necessarily in places like Nashville or Memphis.
Statistics show the state’s small towns are becoming incubators of gang violence.
Since 2005, cities with fewer than 50,000 residents saw gang crime more than triple.
Gangs are becoming problems in places like Springfield, a town of about 16,000 people 30 miles north of Nashville.
In the past two months in Springfield, three suspected gang members were arrested in the armed holdup of a bank and a 20-year-old man was found dead with a bullet wound to the back of his head.