NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- After a recent surge in violence, police are trying to shake Nashville’s gangs from the top down.

Even Metro police Lt. Mitchell Fuhrer, who is in charge of gang enforcement, won't deny gangs are active in the city.

Bullet holes and gang graffiti confirm any doubts.

"This signifies where the Bloods wrote 'Crip killer,'" Fuhrer said of some graffiti.

But Fuhrer and his team are working a two-pronged approach to squash a recent surge in gang violence that has taken place largely between the Bloods and Crips following the slaying of suspected Blood member Brandon Mahammod.

"They not playing. They killing people," Fuhrer said.

Mark Lawrence has lived in a north Nashville neighborhood all his life and said that good residents are becoming hostages.

"If you say the wrong thing, wear the wrong colors, what not, you mess around and get shot," he said.

He said his solution would be a stepped up police presence and some guidance for the kids.

Furher said he and his team are compiling a list of known gang members city-wide and sending officers to meet with their parents.

"So, they suspect their children are involved in gangs or suspect them, but they don't know what to do, where to turn. They don't know how to get the help that they need," he said.

But if that doesn't work, Fuhrer said, they're getting tough and getting out the cuffs.

On Friday, the gang unit arrested Calvin Bryant on drug charges. Officers said he's also a member of the Gangster Disciples in west Nashville.

"We're trying to put a message out that we’re not going to put up with it anymore," Sgt. Gary Kemper said.

The arrest is a perfect example of what police said is the second-prong approach to the problem, which is going after high-level drug dealers and gang members.

"The point is to break up all the organization, disturb it, make it hard for them to do what they are doing out there gang banging," said Kemper.

Police said whether it takes parents or prison, they plan to get their message across.

The gang unit said that on average, they capture about 12 suspected gang members a week. Police said they are hoping to bring in community groups like churches, to help kids find an alternative to violence.