Gangs surge in swing state since 2020 election as street thugs become more sophisticated: experts

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

According to the nonprofit's 2024 study findings, Georgia is home to more than 127,732 known gang members and active associates representing about 1,974 gangs. The group's 2018 survey identified more than 71,000 gang members between 1,600 gangs. 

Only 86 of the state's 159 counties participated in the survey, which showed that about 65% of crimes committed in those counties were carried out by gang members. Regardless, the nonprofit stated, the numbers show that gang activity has surged over the past six years.

However, the agency noted, the rise also coincided with increased training 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 Feb. 23, 2024. (Katie Goodale / USA TODAY NETWORK)

GGIA's Metro Atlanta Regional Director Michael Ricks, who is also a Georgia law enforcement officer, told Fox News Digital that approximately 157 of 159 Georgia counties participated in the 2018 count – the fact that this year's numbers are so much higher with nearly half of the level of participation "makes the growth more alarming."

The six-year period of time between the two surveys is a contributing factor, he said, because gangs are constantly growing. He also said that social media made recruitment easier for organized criminals, and noted that the state's law enforcement departments have seen at least a 20% reduction in its allotted manpower since 2020. 

Although Latino gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua are a growing problem, he said, the Bloods are still the group with the highest membership nationwide. The high number of gangs recorded by the survey can also be attributed to the fact that Georgia law defines any group of three or more people engaging 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 in a lot of areas has gone down… a lot of gangs offer fast money, the perception of additional resources and things like that seem more attractive when times are hard," Ricks told Fox News Digital.

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A heavy police presence is seen at the Cielo at Azulyk apartment complex in Athens, Georgia on Feb. 23, 2024.

A prosecutor in the Fulton County District Attorney's Gang Unit told WSB-TV that general crime stats show a dramatic drop in violent crime in Atlanta during a time of increased gang prosecution.

Atlanta police saw a decline of 26.7% in homicides and 27.8% in firearm aggravated assaults, the chief of the Fulton County District Attorney's Office Gang Unit told the outlet. 

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] if they say that gang membership is up, because it tracks with what we're seeing on the ground."

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Holloway questioned whether violent crime was actually down despite an increase in gang membership.

"I think arrests in general are down, but that doesn't mean crime is down. And so prosecutors sometimes want to conflate those issues and try to spin it maybe for political points when the fact of the matter is crime could be raging," Holloway said. "But when enforcement is down, they'll use those statistics and say, 'Hey, look, we're doing such a great job through this aggressive gang prosecution that we are now solving the problem with violent crime.' And the truth of the matter is it's just being hidden. And I think that's probably more in line with what we're seeing and sort of tracking on the ground."

Savannah Police officers were on scene at the KFC on West Gwinnett Street after an afternoon shooting on Thursday, Aug. 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 see young kids, you know, in the 9, 10, 11, 12-year-old age range now in juvenile court that, you know, have gang membership and gang affiliation. So the membership issue and the explosion of gangs, that's actually getting worse – that's not getting better," Holloway said.

"I think that what we're seeing sort of on the ground, so to speak, is, you know, the combination of that we have now gangs that are getting involved in more complicated criminal activities, drug trafficking, human trafficking. So it's not just the violent crimes and the sort of gangland-type things that you might have remembered from even 10 or 12 years ago. The gangs are becoming more sophisticated."