Burlington

Burlington is the largest city in Alamance County in both square miles and population. By all accounts, gangs began to emerge in Burlington early in the 1990's, but the issue did not come to the forefront until 2005. In 2005, the Alamance County Sheriff's Office created a three person Gang Investigation Unit. In 2006, the Burlington Police Department followed suit with a two person unit. In early 2008, the Administrators of all the law enforcement agencies in the county came together and formed the Alamance City-County Gang Crimes Task Force. This task force consists of nine full time members and four part-time members. The gang situation in Alamance County is not unlike other areas in North Carolina. The largest gang is Surenos 13, which consists of at least 10 seperate cliques in Alamance County. These gangs use the color blue and the number 13, which stands for the letter M. Following closely on the heels of Sur 13 is the United Blood Nation. The UBN is represented by 9'3rd, GKB, and 252. These groups obviously use the color red, but pink, black, brown and occasionly green is used. The number five is common, and showing a preference for the right side of the body is prominent. The Crips also have a contingent in Alamance County, and their symbols are very similiar and even cross over into some of the Folk Nation signs and symbols. Another problem in this area are the local gangs. There are at least 15 different local gangs operational in Alamance County. Gang related crime usually revolves around vandalism, larceny, and drug use/sales. However, there have been at least two gang related homicides in Alamance County since 2007. Overall, approximately 56% of the gangmembers in Alamance County are juveniles, and 9% are female. These numbers are very fluid as membership fluctuates on an almost dailey basis.