To Capt. Mark Bridgeman of the Fayetteville Police Department, there is a striking similarity between the Ku Klux Klan and the street gangs terrorizing some communities across North Carolina.

"Both groups cause panic and fear and havoc within our communities," Bridgeman said. "One did it based on the color of someone's skin, and the other does it based on the color of a piece of cloth.

"The Ku Klux Klan was powerful in our state," he said, "but after the federal government became involved, their influence faded. ... We want to do the same with the gangs."

Bridgeman, 46, was formerly a cop in the Fayetteville Police Department's narcotics and vice suppression unit, but he now leads the battle against gangs.

What, I wanted to know, has changed since we sat on that same sofa at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel last year, when Gangs Across the Carolinas first met in the Triangle?

"Obviously the gang legislation passed by the state was a good start," he said. "It allowed us to standardize what a gang is and provides funding for prevention and intervention."

The $10 million the legislature approved to fight gangs "isn't enough, but we're very encouraged by that level of funding," he said.

In addition to the money, he said, the legislation makes drive-by shootings felonies. Hard to believe, isn't it, that they weren't already?

Officers appreciate the chance to get together -- this is the seventh annual gang conference -- and compare what works in different communities, he said. As we were speaking, a Charlotte cop approached and thanked Bridgeman for coordinating the conference.

Another change since last year, Bridgeman said, is that "community collaboration" with police has increased. "We have to have that. We still have levels of violence that are unacceptable, but those are two significant changes we've seen."

A hotel spokesman said 630 people, most of them law officers, school counselors or resource officers, registered for the three-day conference that ends Wednesday.

Don't go over there expecting to hear about the latest weapons in the war, though. A couple of armed officers stood sentry at the entrance leading into the Imperial ballroom where federal officials talked about prosecuting gang members.

When I asked Bridgeman if I could sit in on the discussion -- after all, we'd just had such a lovely chat -- he answered, "No. This is 'law-enforcement-only' stuff."

Turns out there's a good reason everyone entering had to show their credentials: Last year, some enterprising gang-bangers, trying to keep abreast of the latest law-enforcement stuff aimed at disrupting their activities, apparently tried to sneak into the conference but were chased off.

Many of the guys at the conference reeked of law enforcement style -- tucked, pressed and buzz-cut to a degree that Sgt. Joe Friday would look like a hippie by comparison.

Others, though -- long-haired or bald, baggy pants and work boots -- looked like they would have been at ease on any street corner in the state. They could have passed for what, in the popular imagination, we consider a gang member.

That, I'm guessing, was the idea.

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