Medford, Ore. — Results are in from the first ever Jackson County gang assessment.
The Sheriff’s Office collected 4,500 surveys from community members, business leaders, schools, parents and students.
Law enforcement has identified 16 active gangs with 346 known gang members.
The report says:
60% are Hispanic, 30% are white and 10% are African American.
80% are male and only 20% are female.
95% of known gang members are between the ages of 13 and 25.
With 80% of gang members belonging to either Norteos or Sureos gangs.
They’re most active in Medford and White city.
The assessment found that there is a genuine concern about gang activity in Jackson County.
Concern about vandalism, graffiti, tagging, drugs, violence and safety.
Students were less worried about gangs than adults, saying they are largely unaware of a gang presence in schools.
Brad Russell with the Medford YMCA says they work to combat the problem before it starts “It’s really important that we’re doing that preventative work, so then we don’t have problems with mischief and then worse criminal activity as they get older. If we get them involved young, in healthy activities, then the problems for the community are a lot less.”
There’s a second forum addressing the issue scheduled for Thursday at 5:30pm at White City Elementary school.
We’ve uploaded the entire 46 page report, here: Jackson County Gang Assessment [PDF] (~15mb).
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