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Several dozen law enforcement leaders have wrapped up a meeting at the state Capitol to work on fighting Florida’s growing gang problem.  Recent estimates peg the number of gangs in the state at around 1,500.  Attorney General Bill McCollum and Juvenile Justice Secretary Walter McNeil shared some of the recommendations.

“Many of these kids are saying to me, that’s why businesses are so important, that were there the availability of jobs, if we had a vocation, if we had some skills,” McNeil said.  “We could turn from gang activity to productive kinds of activities in our communities.”

McNeil and McCollum are calling on faith- and community based programs to help fill the parenting gaps with kids who have no parents or have a single parent and may be vulnerable to joining a gang.