Violent gangs are recruiting members as young as eight on Facebook and Twitter and luring slightly older children on BlackBerry phones, a detective revealed last night.Gang expert Sergeant Alex Rollin told a meeting for families at Elliot Primary School in Devonshire that parents should “snoop into everything” their children do, especially when it comes to their use of modern technology.He said he’d had to scrutinise the phones and Facebook pages of youngsters and found disturbing material, including footage of sex acts and “kids with a whole bunch of money, kids as young as ten, 11, with firearms.”The officer urged parents to “reel in” teenage daughters, as he said some girls were getting involved in worrying behaviour “on the street” and in “video footage”.“Be aware of everything they are up to,” he added. “I think a lot of parents are very surprised when I’m sitting there with their young son and their young daughter.”Sgt Rollin said he’d shown some parents material they didn’t know was on their children’s phones. “If I can describe it as dismay when they see these sexual acts [and] gang signs being thrown up,” he said.He said the behaviour of some girls fed the appetite of some boys for “glory” and the latter were motivated to do “these silly, little things to get female attention”.His remarks were made in response to a comment from an educator at the open forum organised by Elliot Primary School’s parent-teacher association.She said: “I have a concern that my students are being recruited into the gangs earlier and earlier. We are hearing the summer is going to be dangerous because it’s going to be a major recruiting event for our young men and I’m talking 11, 12, 13.”Sgt Rollin replied: “We know it’s going to be a long, hot summer. We know there is going to be a lot of activity.”He said: “A young man or even a young woman, ten or 11 years old, they might not necessarily live in a bad area or be in a bad area but they get in these chat rooms or on the BlackBerry. The BlackBerry is the worst I have seen.”He urged parents: “Snoop into all your kids’ stuff. Look at your kids’ BlackBerrys. You have a right to know exactly what your young daughter or son is doing.”The officer said he got the chance to go into a lot of homes and view photographs and social networking sites.“That’s how the recruiting is coming around,” he explained. “It’s as young as ten on BlackBerrys. It’s as young as eight or nine on Facebook. It’s on Twitter.”Sergeant Scott Devine, of Bermuda Police Service’s Community Action Team, also spoke at the event.He said his small team was doing its best to get into neighbourhoods, interact with children and give them positive role models but resources were stretched as police had to target gun and drug crime.“We are doing what we can with what we have got.”Families and Youth Minister Glenn Blakeney told the meeting community policing was crucial to ensure people grew to trust the officers patrolling their areas.He outlined some of his Ministry’s work, including a high-risk intervention scheme for teens, a plan to reintroduce the YMCA to Bermuda and an idea involving parish councils, PTAs and social clubs.Mr Blakeney said Minister without Portfolio Michael Weeks, whose Pembroke East Central constituency has been affected by gun crime, was about to take on some extra responsibilities, including parish councils.He said an announcement would be made about that tomorrow.Last night’s forum, billed ‘Building Strong Families and Communities’, included a screening of local filmmaker Lara Smith’s documentary ‘Cameron: A Portrait’.It features ten-year-old Cameron Jeffers, whose father is absent from his life, but who has benefited hugely from his Big Brother Corville Hylton.l Useful websites: www.bps.bm, http://schools.moed.bm/EP, www.bbbs.bm