Gangs on the rise in swing states since the 2020 election: experts

Gang membership in the Peach State has increased 80% since 2018, according to data from the Georgia Gang Investigators Association (GGIA).

According to the nonprofit’s 2024 survey results: Georgia is home to more than 127,732 known gang members and active associates representing approximately 1,974 gangs. The group’s 2018 research identified more than 71,000 gang members across 1,600 gangs.

Only 86 of the state’s 159 counties participated in the study, which found that about 65% of crimes in those counties were committed by gang members. Regardless, the nonprofit said, the numbers show that gang activity has increased dramatically over the past six years.

However, the agency noted that the increase also coincided with greater education among law enforcement in the state focused on the identification, investigation and prosecution of street gang activity.

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Police respond after shots were fired at the Olmstead Homes in Augusta, Georgia on February 23, 2024. (Katie Goodale / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Michael Ricks, GGIA’s Metro Atlanta Regional Director, who is also a Georgia law enforcement officer, told Fox News Digital that about 157 of Georgia’s 159 counties participated in the 2018 count — the fact that the numbers are so much higher this year, with almost half the level of participation “making the growth more alarming.”

The six-year gap between the two investigations contributes to this, he says, because the number of gangs is constantly growing. He also said social media has made recruitment easier for organized criminals, noting that state law enforcement agencies have seen at least a 20% reduction in allocated manpower since 2020.

Although Latino gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua are a growing problem, the Bloods are still the group with the highest membership nationwide. The high number of gangs recorded in the survey can also be attributed to the fact that Georgian law defines any group of three or more people involved in organized crime as a gang.

A dip in the country’s economy since the last survey could also be a contributing factor, he said.

“The fact that the economy is down in a lot of areas… a lot of gangs offering quick money, the perception of extra resources and things like that seem more attractive in tough times,” Ricks told Fox News Digital.

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On February 23, 2024, there is a heavy police presence at the Cielo at Azulyk apartment complex in Athens, Georgia.

A prosecutor in the Fulton District Attorney’s Gang Unit told WSB-TV that overall crime statistics show a dramatic decline in violent crime in Atlanta at a time of increasing gang prosecutions.

Atlanta police saw a decrease in 26.7% murders and 27.8% of aggravated assault cases involving firearms, the head of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office’s Gang Unit told the newspaper.

Phil Holloway, a former assistant district attorney in the state and current criminal defense attorney, told Fox News Digital that he “can trust the (GGIA) when they say gang membership is up because it fits with what we’re seeing on television . ground.”

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Holloway wondered if that was the case violent crime actually declined despite an increase in gang membership.

“I think arrests have gone down overall, but that doesn’t mean crime has gone down. And so prosecutors sometimes want to conflate these issues and maybe try to make political points, while the crime can be high,” Holloway said. “But if enforcement fails, they’ll use those statistics and say, ‘Hey, look, we’re doing such a great job of this aggressive gang prosecution that we’re now solving the violent crime problem.’ And the truth is it’s just being kept under wraps. And I think that’s probably more consistent with what we’re seeing and tracking on the ground.”

Savannah Police officers responded to the KFC on West Gwinnett Street following an afternoon shooting on Thursday, August 10, 2023. (Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News / USA TODAY NETWORK)

In his 25 years of legal practice in Georgia, Holloway said he can “feel” the increased gang activity.

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“We’re seeing young kids now, you know, in the age range of 9, 10, 11, 12 years old in juvenile court who, you know, are gang members and have gang ties. So the membership issue and the explosion of gangs, that’s actually getting worse — it’s not getting better,” Holloway said.

“I think what we’re seeing on the ground, so to speak, is the combination of we now have gangs getting involved in more complex criminal activities, drug trafficking and human trafficking. not just the violent crimes and the kind of gangland stuff you might remember ten or twelve years ago. The gangs are becoming more and more sophisticated.”