It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Virginia Gang Investigators Association or VGIA. The VGIA was established in 1997 by a group of law enforcement professionals who recognized the importance of having a gang based information sharing network narrowly but intensely focused on responding to the proliferation of street gangs in Virginia. Like other states along the East Coast, a phenomenon also exists in Virginia where well-established criminal street gangs hailing from the West Coast, Mid West, and South West have recently and increasingly joined the population of our existing gangs, bringing the potential of further criminal networking to a new and more threatening level. VGIA will remain committed to bridging the lines of communication between all aspects of law enforcement and providing the most current and reliable information to our membership. In recognizing that any association is only as strong as its membership, VGIA pledges to put its membership first as well, with each and every member held at the highest regard. It is a strong belief of this association that we collectively have an equal voice as we unite in this endeavor to combat against the advancement of street gangs in our communities and the state of Virginia.