INDIANAPOLIS - Senator Evan Bayh is putting street gangs on notice. Bayh is co-sponsor of a bill that makes recruiting and criminal activities of gangs a federal crime.

According to the FBI, there are now more gang members in the US, an estimated 800,000, than there are police. In Marion County alone, law enforcement estimates more than 1,600 gang members.

We have to punish those people who are about recruiting our young men and women from the streets to sell drugs and participate in gangs," said Sgt. Timothy Knight, IMPD.

For the first time, that punishment could become a federal crime. Indiana Senator Evan Bayh is co-sponsor of anti-gang legislation, that would among other things, stiffen the penalties for gang recruiting, especially if the member is a minor.

"For the first time, we make recruiting young people into gangs a federal offense. We can prosecute people who lure young people into participating in gangs by making that a federal crime," said Sen. Bayh.

Bayh is also throwing his support behind a bill that doubles funding for community policing to over $1.1 billion nationally. The bill would set aside over $9 million to hire extra law enforcement in Indiana.

"The federal government needs to step up, provide more resources to our cities and towns and help fund policemen and women fighting the crime problem we currently have," said the senator.

Youth mentors from Indianapolis are more blunt in assessing the city's gang problems.

"We are definitely at war. Make no mistake. And it's one we can't afford to lose," said Tony Wallace, Security Dads founder.

That war could soon put street gangs in the crosshairs of the federal government, no longer content to watch American street gang membership grow.

The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate judiciary committee last month and now goes to the full Senate.

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