NJ gangs shifting away from identifiable colors, tattoos

Law enforcement officials from coast to coast say street gangs are shying away from wearing their colors and are covering up or even altering their tattoos to avoid detection by police.

It's a trend that law enforcement officials are seeing in New Jersey as well.

"The Bloods would wear red and black and the Crips would display blue, orange or purple when traveling around or engaging in criminal activity. Over the past few years, they're now taking the colors off or tampering it down," said Capt. Ronald Hampton, director of the New Jersey State Police Gang Intelligence and Criminal Enterprise Unit.

Instead of seeing five Bloods running a drug set on a street corner all dressed in red, now the same five guys will be dressed differently, according to Hampton.

One of the reasons gangs have decided to tone down these identifiable colors and tattoos, according to Hampton, is because they realized law enforcement and even the public recognized what these colors and tattoos meant.

In addition, some police said gangs have learned from past mistakes and are responding to stronger laws. Authorities said gang members also want to avoid more restrictive prison conditions imposed on gang members.

In some cases, these changes have made it more difficult for law enforcement to identify gang members.  "It's definitely a little bit more difficult to identify who they are, just because of not being that overt," Hampton said.

Gang members may not be wearing their colors and getting tattoos as much, but many still brag about their affiliation on social media sites like Facebook.

"Social media has always been very popular with gangs in terms of identification, not only of themselves but of their members," Hampton said. "You still see it continuing on social media because a lot of these folks think there's a little bit more security on social media because it's not overtly public."

Hampton added while they're wearing different clothing and hats, the criminal activity of gangs hasn't changed. Gangs are still involved in the distribution of narcotics in the cities,  suburbs and rural areas.  They also continue to be involved in trafficking weapons, auto theft, prostitution and assaults.

He also said in recent years members of different gangs are now working together to commit crimes, instead of trying to kill each other the way they did in the past.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.