The coroner, who has been studying gangs in Arkansas and across the country for more than five years, told a joint meeting of the Little Rock Board of Directors and the Little Rock School Board that 45 to 100 neighborhood gangs have been identified in Pulaski County.

Many are loosely affiliated with groups such as the Bloods or Crips that started in Los Angeles, or the People Nation or Folk Nation from Chicago, Nawojczyk said.

Violence occurs because of the rivalries among the groups, which say they want respect. Gangs retaliate when individual members or a gang itself has been shown disrespect, he said.

The community must present a united front in efforts to reduce gang violence, the coroner said. Police Chief Louie Caudell and Little Rock Superintendent Henry Williams -- both present Tuesday -- can't do it by themselves, he said.

Nawojczyk did offer some advice to city and school leaders on dealing with gangs, including:

• Realize that raising the minimum grade requirement for athletics puts team sports out of some youth's reach. They may turn to gangs for the identity and support they could get from sports.

• Don't concentrate on stereotypes. "It's cool now to look and dress like a gang member," he said, adding they come from all walks of life -- they may be boys or girls, black or white, from all socioeconomic levels, and from all sizes of cities and towns.

• Tolerate no misbehavior by gang members or others in schools. Ban hand signals and modes of dress that indicate gang membership.

• Find creative ways to punish misbehaving students without suspending or expelling them away from school and into the neighborhoods.

• Designate adults in the schools and in the city to interpret and immediately remove gang-related graffiti. Gangs use graffiti to insult members of other gangs, leading to violent retaliation, he said.

• Use school volunteers to teach students to read. About half the gang members Nawojczyk talks to admit to having academic difficulties and as a result don't do well in school or can't get legitimate jobs, he said.