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Request a DemoWhy is Georgia Spending Millions on a Task Force to Fight Criminal Gangs?
- According to officials gang-related crime is on the rise and violent crime has risen in the past two years though crime overall has trended down since the 1990s.
- Gov. Kemp created a Gang Task Force (GTF) led by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that has been allocated nearly $3 million since 2019.
- There are 7 federal gang crime task forces in Georgia.
A recent spate of homicides, in Atlanta in particular, has contributed to a general sense of unease over public safety in Georgia. Gov. Brian Kemp has blamed criminal gangs as the main driver.
After decades of falling crime rates overall in Georgia, what is responsible for a rise in violent crimes over the past two years? For his part, Kemp has declared gang crime a crisis and pegged it as the main driver of crime across the state.
“This crisis needed strong action and we have certainly taken that,” Kemp told reporters last month at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's (GBI) headquarters, flanked by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and GBI director Vic Reynolds.
His solution to the problem comes in the form of a key campaign promise: the creation of a statewide initiative called the Gang Task Force (GTF) headed by the GBI.
“Street gangs are at the center of violent crime and human trafficking in communities rural and urban, regardless of race or ethnicity,” Kemp said last month, marking two years since the task force became operational.
While trimming budgets in most areas, Georgia's state legislature has allocated nearly $3 million in funding towards the project since 2019, according to budget records and the GBI. The idea that a statewide effort to combat gang crime was needed raised eyebrows at first: in 2018, when Kemp was elected, crime was at an all-time low since the 1990s.
But violent crime statewide has ticked up over the past two years, according to U.S. Department of Justice and GBI statistics. Crime in 2020 was down 22% compared to 2019, but murder, rapes and aggravated assault all increased, while burglary, robbery, larceny and motor vehicle theft declined. Amid the crime-data clash of historical lows and the recent statewide uptick, the issue has become dominant in the upcoming Atlanta mayoral election this year and likely will be key to the governor’s reelection campaign in 2022.
Department of Justice data shows an overall downward trend in violent-crime rate per 100,000 people per year in Georgia and the U.S. between 1986 and 2019. (Credit: FBI Crime Data Explorer)
Defining the Problem
At a meeting of the Georgia General Assembly’s public safety and homeland security committee last month, Rep. Mack Jackson (D-Sandersville) stressed: “We’re not only having (gang crime) in Atlanta, we’re experiencing a rise in crime too in rural communities.”
Notorious national and transnational gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, the Central American gang MS-13 and the white nationalist gangs Ghostface Gangsters and the Aryan Brotherhood have a presence in the Peach State, officials say. But publicly available data only points to crime overall, leaving the public to rely on state and local law enforcement's assessment that gang crime as a subset of all crime is growing. What’s more, a gang is broadly defined under the law, constituting at least three people with common identifying characteristics that are accused of a specific criminal act.
“Gangs and gang-related violence has been growing consistently over the past five years,” said Kevin Rowson, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s Atlanta field office.
- Read about how most local police agencies in Georgia do not report use-of-force statistics to the federal government in our story, "Only a Fraction of Georgia Police Report Use-of-Force Data to the FBI."
For its part, the FBI already has seven separate task forces focused on gangs and violent crime operating in Georgia. Nationally, the FBI spends nearly $3.3 billion per year on its programs dedicated towards criminal enterprises nationwide, which includes their 173 gang task forces.
How much federal money is earmarked specifically for Georgia is unclear. State Affairs was told to make a freedom of information act request to obtain that figure, and is awaiting a response as of publication. For the FBI, the creation of the gang task force largely means business continues as usual.
“Our relationship with the GBI gang task force is similar to our relationship with every other law enforcement agencies gang task forces throughout the state,” Rowson said. “We are in constant communication with those agencies and constantly sharing information.”
GBI spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said the state and federal task forces “share intelligence in both directions routinely” and that the state gang task force has agents deputized in four of the FBI’s task forces.
So what exactly does Kemp’s task force add to the mix?
Since the GBI’s gang task force began operations in July 2019, it boasts having worked on 884 “gang related or gang motivated investigations” involving nearly 70 separate criminal street gangs, according to the GBI. According to the GBI, the task force employs an office manager, a special agent in charge, two assistant special agents in charge, 10 GBI agents, an Atlanta Police Department detective, a Georgia National Guard intelligence analyst and two GBI intelligence analysts. There are also 31 GBI agents with the title “Regional Gang Specialist” deployed across the state.
Georgia has budgeted nearly $3 million for the state's gang-crime task force since 2019. (Credit: Brittney Phan for State Affairs)
What is a Gang?
Both Kemp and Carr have cited a figure from the Georgia Gang Investigators Association that estimates there are 71,000 gang members in Georgia. The figure – far higher than the prior estimates by the FBI – received some scrutiny from observers including the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s former political columnist Jim Galloway, who pointed out the figure is greater than the armies that Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant commanded during the U.S. Civil War.
Who counts as a gang member also raises questions. The Department of Justice says defines gangs as "associations of three or more individuals who adopt a group identity in order to create an atmosphere of fear or intimidation.”
Georgia law adds to that definition, saying the three individuals must have some common “identifying features” such as tattoos, names, symbols or graffiti. State law also says that the three individuals must be engaged in “criminal gang activity,” specifically listing crimes such as assault, rape, burglary and murder.
Such a broad definition means that charging and prosecuting suspects as members of a gang relies on the discretion of prosecutors.
“As far as what gangs are operating in Georgia, it would be impossible to list, depending on who you talk to,” said the FBI's Rowson. “Suffice it to say, there are hundreds.”
But the state's gang task force may soon give clarity on the footprint of gangs in Georgia with the creation of a new database to track suspected gang members, which is administered by GBI with contributions from local law enforcement underway this year. GBI’s Reynolds said the first participating sites should come online sometime this fall. Speaking to the local radio station WABE, Reynolds said the database would use stringent criteria to determine who went on it, and said the agency took profiling concerns seriously.
“If we err, we err on the side of not putting you on there (in the database),” Reynolds said.
GBI Director Vic Reynolds (pictured) discusses statewide gang-related investigations during a news conference on July 15, 2021. (Credit: Beau Evans for State Affairs)
Politics of Public Safety
While many factors may explain the recent rise in crime such as changes in economic opportunity or the stress of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kemp and other state officials have homed in on political leadership and have accused elected Democratic leaders of interfering with law enforcement’s ability to crack down on crimes.
“It boils down to whether or not the policymakers, the elected officials, in all candor, and pardon my bluntness, will get the hell out of the way,” Reynolds told WABE earlier this month.
Crime and public safety is “the dominant issue” in the Atlanta mayoral elections later this year, according to Charles Bullock, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs. Incumbent Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who has had a rocky relationship with Kemp over local crime and COVID-19 mask mandates, is not running for reelection.
- Read our investigation about how ankle monitors were removed from sex predators in Georgia, "Ankle Monitors Gone for Hundreds of Sex Predators in Georgia."
But focusing on crime may also help Kemp secure reelection next year, said Bullock. Following Democratic victories in the presidential election statewide as well as the two U.S. Senate seats now held by Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff by thin margins, Georgia Republicans will need to make gains where they can in urban areas, Bullock said.
“For the first time ever, urban Georgia is out-voting rural Georgia,” Bullock said. “Having a position on crime may help the governor do a bit better in DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Cobb counties – counties which largely accounted for the defeats of Republicans.”
Charles Bullock (pictured) is a professor of political science at the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs. (Credit: University of Georgia)
More than just a Problem for Police
Kemp acknowledged gang crime isn’t a problem that can be solely solved by policing in a speech earlier this month at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce's Congressional Luncheon. The governor asked local business leaders to speak with local law enforcement as well as school, churches and community organizations.
“Work with them to put forward new job training or mental health programs that deter people from lives of crime,” he said.
Advocates for community-based programs that focus on crime prevention by addressing social ills that may put youth at risk say this approach can reduce the need for tough policing later on.
“We cannot arrest our way out of this,” said Coco Papy, the director of development and communications for the Deep Center, a nonprofit founded in 2008 with the aim of alleviating poverty and illiteracy in the Savannah area.
Those working directly with communities, like Papy, say the problem needs to be approached from more than just a police perspective: public health experts and community advocates should also be involved.
“We don’t want to create a narrative around the problem that creates more of a sense of fear than there needs to be,” she said.
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House speaker Jon Burns hires new communications director
House speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, announced today that he has hired a new communications director. Kayla Roberson, who has served as press secretary at the Georgia Chamber for the past year or so, will now oversee all external communications, media relations and strategic messaging for Burns.
“I’m excited to welcome Kayla to our team,” Burns said in a statement. “Kayla has an excellent background, deep skill set and strong work ethic, and we’re excited to have her on board to continue getting our message out and sharing the House’s priorities ahead of and into the next session.”
A double major in political science and journalism at the University of Georgia, where she graduated in 2022, Roberson interned for U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican in north Georgia’s 9th Congressional District, and worked as a consultant for GOP political candidates before joining the Georgia Chamber.
“I’m beyond grateful for the opportunity to work under the leadership of speaker Burns,” Roberson told State Affairs. “Whether it’s improving education opportunities, putting money back in the pockets of hardworking Georgians, creating jobs or supporting our rural communities, speaker Burns always prioritizes doing what is best, and what is right, for Georgia.”
Political strategist Stephen Lawson, who has held the top communications role for the speaker since last December, announced he’s joining Dentons, where starting today he’ll lead the global law firm’s public affairs efforts.
Have questions or comments? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
Global bird flu disrupts Georgia exports, costing chicken producers millions
ATLANTA — A global bird flu that has rapidly spread from birds to dairy cows, milk supplies and humans has cost untold millions of dollars in lost export business in Georgia, the nation’s leading poultry producer, officials with the state Department of Agriculture and poultry industry said.
Georgia has had only three reported cases of H5N1 avian influenza since it reemerged in 2022. The last of those cases was resolved in November 2023 but ramifications of those outbreaks continue to have a big effect on the state’s ability to export chicken and chicken parts, such as chicken feet, to different countries, including China, one of Georgia’s biggest export markets for chicken feet.
In 2022, frozen chicken feet, for example, accounted for more than 85% of all U.S. poultry exported to China, according to Farm Progress, publisher of 22 farming and ranching magazines.
The $30 billion poultry industry is Georgia’s largest segment in its No. 1 industry — agriculture.
China has also placed a ban on the import of chicken products from 41 other American states. The ban on Georgia products went into effect Nov. 21, 2023. Efforts to reach the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. were unsuccessful.
Georgia Poultry Federation President Mike Giles estimates the state’s loss at “well into the millions of dollars.”
“It’s a significant amount in a significant export market for us,” he said. “Poultry paws [feet] immediately lose value because of the loss of demand.”
The ban has forced Georgia poultry producers to find alternative markets for their products that would normally be headed to China.
“Some are sold domestically, some are frozen and stored, hopefully to find markets later on, and some go to other countries,” Giles said.
This isn’t the first time China has banned U.S.-produced poultry products due to a bird flu outbreak. The country instituted a ban in January 2015 which lasted until November 2019 — even though U.S. poultry products were deemed free of the disease by August 2017.
After that ban was lifted, China’s appetite for American-produced chicken products became voracious.
In 2022, U.S. producers shipped nearly $6 billion in poultry meat and related products (excluding eggs) to over 130 countries. China has emerged as the second largest destination for U.S. poultry exports, increasing from $10 million in 2019 to a record $1.1 billion in 2022, according to Southern Ag Today.
Chicken paws, for instance, are eaten in many Asian countries, including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea.They can also be found on Chinese dim sum menus throughout the U.S. and are also popular in Jamaica, Trinidad, Russia and Ukraine in everything from soups and curries to fried snacks.
Three Georgia counties have reported H5N1 outbreaks since 2022. The most recent case was late last year. Henry, Sumter and Toombs counties each reported one case of H5N1 bird flu. Those outbreaks are resolved, poultry and state agriculture officials say.
“When HPAI cases are found in any state, that state is given a designation that could lead to foreign countries halting trade on poultry products from that state,” Georgia Department of Agriculture spokesman Matthew Agvent told State Affairs.
Not since 2016 has the United States experienced such a fast-moving case of the H5N1 avian influenza. In the last two months, the virus has spread in parts of the United States from birds to dairy cows, some milk supplies and humans. Two people — a Texas dairy worker and a prison inmate in Colorado who was killing infected birds at a poultry farm — are reported to have caught the virus, according to news reports. The outbreak is the largest in recent history, impacting both domestic poultry and livestock as well as wild birds and some mammal species.
State officials are continuing to monitor the national outbreak and its impact on Georgia.
Georgia’s poultry & egg industry: At A Glance
Annual economic impact: $30.2 billion
Percentage of the Agriculture industry: 58% *
Jobs: 87,900
Counties involved in poultry & egg production: 3 out of 4
National ranking in chicken broiler production: No. 1
Daily production of table eggs: 7.8 million
Daily production of hatching eggs: 6.5 million
Pounds of chicken produced daily: 30.2 million
Pounds of chicken produced annually: 8 billion
Number of chicken broilers processed each day: 5 million
Counties involved in poultry & egg production: 3 out of 4
Source: Georgia Poultry Federation; The Center for Agribusiness & Economic Development, University of Georgia, Ag Snapshots 2024; Georgia Poultry Federation.
Have questions? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
Is it safe to eat chicken and eggs and drink milk? Answers to your most pressing questions about the latest bird flu outbreak
A two-year-old strain of bird flu has heightened concerns in Georgia and the rest of the country after the virus recently spread to dairy cows. Here’s what you need to know about the virus and its impact on Georgia and the rest of the country. What are the symptoms of this flu in humans? Eye …
Kemp signs bills on education, health care, taxes
Gov. Brian Kemp signed a slew of bills over the past week or so, including the private school voucher bill long sought by Republicans and a bill that will ease regulations over the construction and expansion of medical facilities in rural areas.
His bill-signing events were clustered into themes: education, health care, military members, human trafficking and Georgia’s coastal communities.
Education
Among the education-related bills Kemp signed was Senate Bill 233, also known as the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, which provides the families of Georgia students enrolled in underperforming school districts with $6,500 scholarships that can be used toward private school or homeschooling expenses, including tuition, fees, textbooks and tutoring.
“Georgia is affording greater choice to families as to how and where they receive their education, while also continuing our efforts to strengthen public schools, support teachers, and secure our classrooms,” Kemp said, and thanked leadership in the House and Senate for prioritizing passage of the bill, which had failed in a close vote in 2023.
Democrats and many public education advocates who opposed the bill argued it will drain resources from public schools and primarily benefit students from wealthy families.
Kemp also signed Senate Bill 351, sponsored by nine Republican senators, which will require social media companies, as of July 1, 2025, to verify their users are at least 16 years old unless they receive approval from a parent.
House Bill 409, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, directs school systems to consider not having bus stops where a student would have to cross a roadway with a speed limit of 40 mph or greater. The bill also increases the penalty for passing a stopped school bus to $1,000 from $250.
Kemp noted that Ashley Pierce, the mother of Addy Pierce, an 8-year-old who was fatally struck by a motorist as she boarded her school bus, “passionately advocated for and was instrumental in the passage of this legislation.”
Senate Bill 395, sponsored by Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Gwinnett, states that no school visitor or personnel can be prohibited from possessing an opioid reversal drug such as Narcan and directs schools to maintain a supply. It also allows opioid antagonists to be sold in vending machines and directs certain government buildings to maintain a supply of at least three doses.
Senate Bill 464, also sponsored by Dixon, creates the School Supplies for Teachers Program to financially and technically support teachers purchasing school supplies online. It also creates an executive committee of five voting members within the Georgia Council on Literacy and limits the number of approved literacy screeners to five, one of whom must be available to schools for free.
Health care
The governor chose his hometown of Athens as the venue to sign several bills aimed at improving health care in rural and underserved communities.
Among them was House Bill 1339, sponsored by Rep. Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, which revises the Certificate of Need process by which the state determines if and how new medical facilities can be built or expanded. The bill provides for several new exemptions, including psychiatric or substance abuse inpatient programs, basic perinatal services in rural counties, birthing centers and new general acute hospitals in rural counties. It also raises the total limit on tax credits for donations to rural hospital organizations to $100 million from $75 million.
Senate Bill 480, sponsored by Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, establishes student loan repayments for mental health and substance use professionals serving underserved youth in the state or in unserved geographic areas disproportionately impacted by social determinants of health.
House Bill 872, sponsored by Rep. Lee Hawkins, R-Gainesville, chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, expands cancelable loans for certain health care professionals to dental students who agree to practice in rural areas.
Senate Bill 293, sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, reorganizes county boards of public health and opens the qualifications for the CEO of each county board of health to include either licensed physicians or people with a master’s degree in public health or a related field.
Military members and veterans
Kemp on Wednesday focused on bills to improve military recruitment and provide more work opportunities for veterans and military family members.
House Bill 880, sponsored by Rep. Bethany Ballard, R-Warner Robins, allows spouses of military service members to work under a license they hold in good standing in another state while under the supervision of an existing Georgia medical facility or provider.
Senate Bill 449, sponsored by Sen. Larry Walker, allows military medical personnel to practice for 12 months while a license application is pending, including working as a certified nursing aide, certified emergency medical technician, paramedic or licensed practical nurse. The bill also creates a new advanced practice registered nurse license and makes it a misdemeanor to practice advanced nursing without a license.
Human trafficking
The governor on Wednesday was accompanied by first lady Marty Kemp and other members of the GRACE Commission for the signing of an anti-human trafficking package. It includes Senate Bill 370, which adds certain businesses to the list of organizations that must post human trafficking notices, including convenience stores, body art studios, businesses that employ licensed massage therapists and manufacturing facilities.
Sponsored by Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, the bill also allows the Georgia Board of Massage Therapy to initiate inspections of massage therapy businesses and educational programs without notice and requires massage therapy board members to complete yearly human trafficking awareness training.
House Bill 993, sponsored by Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, creates the felony offense of grooming of a minor and creates new penalties for offenses relating to visual mediums depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
House Bill 1201, sponsored by Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, allows human trafficking survivors who received first offender or conditional discharge status to vacate that status for certain crimes, as long as the crime was a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking.
Coastal communities
Earlier today in Brunswick, Kemp signed legislation impacting Georgia coastal communities, including House Bill 244, which amends the laws around how wild game can be hunted and how seafood dealers operate, and House Bill 1341, which designates white shrimp as the state’s official crustacean.
Taxes
Earlier this month Kemp signed several bills related to taxation, including House Bill 1015, sponsored by Rep. Lauren McDonald, R-Cumming, which lowers the state income tax for tax year 2024 to 5.39%, accelerating a multiyear drop in state income taxes that started at 5.75% in 2023 and will continue through 2029.
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget estimates the tax cut acceleration will save Georgia taxpayers approximately $1.1 billion in calendar year 2024 and about $3 billion over the next 10 years.
Kemp also signed House Bill 1021, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, which increases the state’s income tax dependent exemption to $4,000 from $3,000.
House Bill 581, sponsored by Reps. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, and Clint Crowe, R-Jackson, enables a constitutional amendment (House Resolution 1022) to let voters decide whether counties can provide a statewide homestead valuation freeze, which limits the increase in property values to the inflation rate.
The governor has until May 7 to sign or veto bills passed during the legislative session that ended on March 28. Those he takes no action on will automatically become law.
Legislation signed by Kemp is posted on the governor’s website.
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Have questions, comments or tips on education in Georgia? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
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