VALDOSTA — “In 2018, everybody said we were making it up, that it wasn’t true,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr told area law enforcement leaders in closing remarks at Thursday’s Anti-Gang Network meeting. “But people knew that it was.”

“It” in this case is gang violence in Georgia.

Carr said his effort has been vindicated since the network formed in 2018, because many people have come to agree that gangs are a problem in the Peach State, not only in cities like Atlanta or Savannah, but in all 159 counties.

The Anti-Gang Network was conceived as a way for local, state and federal law enforcement officers and their agencies to come together, build relationships and share resources to defeat gangs.

“They [gangs] don’t care where the county line is,” Carr said in remarks after the meeting.

Since its inception, the network has expanded to include schools, non-profit organizations and others who are focused on gang-related issues.

Carr said the network had been wanting to meet in Valdosta for some time. Interstate 75’s free and fast transportation providemany economic benefits, he said, but it also makes it easy for drug smuggling and human trafficking to pass through the community too.

On Thursday, members of the network gathered at Valdosta State University’s University Center to discuss challenges they’re facing and resources they’ve found or created that have helped.

Participants, other than Carr himself, included U.S. Attorney Peter Leary, Valdosta Police Chief Leslie Manahan, VSU Police Chief Alex Rowe and representatives of state and local law enforcement agencies throughout South Georgia.

Carr was very pleased with the results.

“You have an ecosystem of folks working together,” he said. He said that wasn’t always the case; during meetings like this, he’s frequently told that no one has brought these agencies together before.

The meeting, and others like it, have helped the Attorney General’s Office identify a number of programs that help in the fight against gangs, especially ones that interfere with gangs’ recruitment, one of the biggest challenges they face with gangs.

Sixty to 90 percent of violence in the state is gang-related, Carr said.

“Everybody deserves to be safe. That’s not a political issue. It’s a human issue,” he said.