BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The Georgia Attorney General met with federal, state and local law enforcement in Brunswick Wednesday afternoon to discuss efforts to combat gang violence in the state.
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More than 30 agencies participated in the discussion including the FBI, DEA, Georgia Bureau of Investigations and the US Marshals Office.
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In February three Brunswick men were charged with street gang terrorism in relation with a shooting in 2022.
Last November, the largest indictment ever brought in the Southern District of Georgia led to the leader of a massive, gang-related drug trafficking conspiracy receiving a life sentence and seven others, many from Brunswick, receiving stiff penalties.
But Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr says gang violence isn’t just a Brunswick problem.
“Georgia gang investigators did a survey. Asked all 159 counties if they saw evidence of gang activity and they found 157 said yes, which just tells me one thing. Two counties lied,” said Carr.
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Carr has been hosting interagency roundtable discussions on gang violence for the past six years.
He said the goal is to improve communication, which is one of the four key pillars he claims are pivotal to combating gang violence.
“Improve communication, improve intelligence sharing, improve prosecutions, but also identify proven programs, anti-recruitment programs. So we can get kids early on, that we can intervene, we can get them from ever joining a gang to begin with,” said Carr.
And Carr argued the State of Georgia has been making concerted efforts to crack down on gang-related crimes, which he said primarily impact lower income, racially diverse and immigrant communities.
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“All Georgians deserve to be safe and to feel safe and the only way to do that is if we all work together to do our job and keep all Georgians protected,” said Carr.
Carr said thanks to additional funding from the Georgia State Legislature, his office will soon open new prosecutions units in Columbus, Macon and Southeast Georgia, to continue adding to the manpower available to combat gang crime.
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