Getting a better handle on how gangs operate, and how to combat their illegal activities are among the goals behind a law enforcement conference going on right now in Fort Wayne.

The forum put on by the Midwest Gang Investigators Association was scheduled about a year ago.

Little did they know at the time that Fort Wayne would be rocked by ten homicides in two weeks, several of which may have ties to gangs.

Warsaw Police Officer Mike Cox, an expert on gang behaviors, says when a gang member is shot in a community, rival gangs routinely seek to retaliate.

Conferences like the one held in Fort Wayne offer law enforcement people the chance to learn about new gang methods and to make contacts to help fight the gang culture.

mike Cox/Gang Investigator: " We hope the main thing they get from this is the networking, being able to call somebody on the other side of the state to track a gang banger that may have passed through. As far as these shootings, gangs feel they have to retaliate. They have to come out on top. If you do something to me, me and my boys are coming back and we’re going to get even.”

Cox says street gangs went underground in Fort Wayne for a number of years, but now they're taking a higher profile again, with pictures and other material being flaunted on the Internet.

The public bravado, Cox says, is partially about meeting force with force.

He says if your gang is making money off the sale of drugs and wants to protect turf, you can't be pushed around, so you strike back in a “survival of the fittest” mentality.