Whether this fits here or not, dont care. Here's the deal, I met a guy who said he lives in a area around clevland Ohio where there are violent gangs. The kid has run ins with them and it's sad to hear how you have to watch your back constantly. Seeing how the dollars are everywhere I want to get the story from other people. Do you live in an area with gangs? Do you avoid them? How does it feel to be in the area?

My city is larger than a few surrounding towns but is accessible by nearby metropolitan areas. We have somewhat of a drug culture here and I've met my fair share of crack heads. That said yes there are gangs that are known. Many of the people either come in temporarily to do business and the resident gangsters usually aren't too bad (not that they're harmless). Lately though I have seen and heard more and more activity and not that long ago a local gang started making big enough moves to get word around. They came into conflict with some local dealers I used to associate with and that's not too common here. I'm thinking of ways to stunt gang growth in places like here before it gets too bad. Any ideas?

I'm sorry but I can't offer much advise to that, but I know that in full honesty, the way of a gang member is to be a total ass and act like you own everyone. They love power. So what ever you do just remember that pandering to them can by you time to plan a route to avoid them. But just be smart.

We used to have minor gang activity, but luckily, it didn't get too far beyond drugs and violence. Getting a gun around here is pretty difficult, so we didn't have that stereotypical area of activity. I'm not positive that it was related to them, but around the time when the gangs were active, a lot of mail boxes were blown up and just about every breakable object you had outside would be automatically broken within a few days. A lot of teen violence that resulted in hospitalization, but there were very few deaths directly related to it. Even if a death was related to it, everyone would deny that they were in a gang and pretend it was the result of something else. A looot of drugs. (There still are a lot of drugs, perhaps more than there were then, but I don't think they're distributed through gangs anymore.)

To be honest, life during the day wasn't affected much since none of them were active until nightfall; it just wasn't totally safe to walk around after dark. Because the people around her like to pretend we live in Mayberry where everything is perfect and dandy, a lot of the adults either didn't notice it or pretended to not notice it. Even now, they pretend that there isn't a drug problem down here.

I don't see how it's even possible to do that when we have at least 2 kids OD ever year from our area. And when I say least, I mean bare minimum. It may not be bad compared to other areas, but considering how small of a community this is, that's just... Dafuq, man.

I'm still not sure why all the gang activity suddenly stopped, considering I don't remember the police ever trying to get involved. And yes, I'm speaking in the past-tense because there aren't any serious gangs around here now. They're all just left-overs or wannabes now that aren't much of a threat.

The only advice I can give to those in these situations is this: mind your own business. Don't try to be a hero when it comes to a gang, because no matter how pathetic they look, they can and will kick your ass every time. Even if you go at it with a group of friends, they'll just hunt down each individual friend and kick their asses when the second you separate.

The power of numbers is more frightening than you think.

I do. 3 people on my block were killed last year because of it, so yeah I watch my back.

If you think it's bad in Ohio, just wait until you see what it's like here in Los Angeles.

But here's my advice, as someone who's been in places like Compton and the worst areas of Downtown LA.

Don't get out of your car alone, keep your doors locked and windows rolled up, and don't stop for shit. I've seen people get pulled out of their car because they stopped for something.

Krav Maga works great for when someone pulls a gun or a knife on you. It teaches you to take their weapon and kill them with it.

>>4

My friends and I kinda live together. We have our own houses with our parents but we're never alone.
But I live in suburbs of Indianapolis and nothing really happens here. There are TONS of drug users and dealers and people that say they're in gangs. But nothing happens here in the suburbs. However, there are bad parts of Indianapolis. If a little white guy like me went there alone I'd be shot dead in less than five minutes.

>>8

The guys that say they're in gangs mainly steal stuff and deal/do drugs.
If they're involved in violence, they don't do it here because my town is small and everyone knows everything.

Mfw I realized I posted in a dead thread. At least it's just one month dead.

Dude the closer you get to the border the more Carteles and other affiliations there are. I got a list: East Side Locos,North side Killers,South Side Locos,LHB ,LHBx3, West Side Ricos, etc.