British yobs are beginning to ape the terrifying tactics of vicious American gangs, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith warned yesterday.

She said there is increasing evidence they are wearing "colours" to show allegiance - just like rival LA gangsters such as the Crips and Bloods.

And they were are also using graffiti "tags" to mark territory and warn off outsiders.

Ms Smith said: "Some elements of gang culture tend to come from the States. We have seen the development of things like the use of tags, the use of colours. Those are all things we need to address."

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In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, she said gang members were getting younger, with teens of 14 involved in violence - partly due to tough action by police against older gangsters.

But she said it meant families, especially mums, had an extra responsibility to stop teens getting dragged in.

Ms Smith, herself a mum of a teenage boy, said: "This is an area where we can't take our eyes off the ball. We need to find alternatives and ways of allowing people to come out of a gang lifestyle."

She said the warning signs were increasing trouble at school, different clothes or spending time with new groups of people.

But people also "needed to feel confident that they don't have to carry guns or knives and others won't carry one either".

Ms Smith, speaking in Birmingham at the start of a monthlong crackdown, said there would be more street searches using metal-detectors and more undercover policing. But she also wanted more "street pastor" patrols in UK cities. Trialled in Birmingham in London, the pastors are church and community volunteers who patrol gang hotspots at night.

With police back-up they can mediate between rival gangs and try to talk to troubled youngsters in danger of getting into gangs.

Ms Smith said: "They are not soft these people. They are community representatives who people trust and can intervene to stop youngsters going down that road."

In one case two pupils turned to gangs to settle a score until a mediator got them together to sort their problems. She said: "When people don't step in, it can descend into weapons, serious violence." In just one day over the weekend police in Birmingham made five arrests and confiscated 40 replica firearms. Ms Smith said it showed new legislation was working.

She also launched a National Ballistics Intelligence register. Similar to a DNA database, it will record forensics from all guns and bullets used in crimes and find links in two days instead of the current eight weeks.

BLUE v RED TO THE DEATH

The Crips were founded in California by Raymond Washington and Stanley Tookie Williams in 1969.

Washington was shot dead in 1979, aged 25, and Williams was executed by lethal injection in 2005.

The Crips wear blue and their criminal activities include murder, robbery and drug dealing. The gang's estimated LA membership exceeds 30,000 and rap stars Ice-T, Snoop Dogg and Coolio are once thought to have links.

The Bloods were set up in 1971, when several Crips factions joined up with smaller gangs.

The gang - which wears red - has 25-30,000 LA members and is involved in the same kind of criminal activities. Rappers with links include The Game