six-pointed star representing the Black Gangster Disciple Nation gang and a few tags for “Sur 13,” a Hispanic street gang with cells in Clarke, Hall and Gwinnett counties,

eight members of Blood Set 214 from Winder rode into an Auburn neighborhood and used bats and clubs to beat a group of residents on Murifield Way.Four gang members, including some leaders, were arrested afterward.A few isolated assaults have marked the latest rise in gang activity, but deputies mostly are seeing an uptick in petty crimes and gang tagging, especially on street and subdivision signs south of Georgia Highway 316.Officers are spotting the six-pointed star representing the Black Gangster Disciple Nation gang and a few tags for “Sur 13,” a Hispanic street gang with cells in Clarke, Hall and Gwinnett counties, according to police reports filed by sheriff’s deputies.Smith believes some of the gang members who are operating in Barrow County have connections with larger groups in surrounding counties.“We have some guys that have affiliation with guys in Gwinnett or in other counties,” he said. “But we can’t say they’re coming in from Gwinnett or Jackson or Athens-Clarke counties. They may live here in Barrow. They may frequently come over here to visit family, or they may have moved over here, and they’ve started to tag.”The task force will give detectives in the sheriff’s office a framework for sharing information and investigations with detectives in the Winder Police Department, and vice-versa, Smith said.The task force won’t cost either department more, because neither will be doing anything they wouldn’t already be doing, he said. The departments hopefully will pursue the same investigations in a more collaborative and effective way.Smith hopes if the task force is successful at pooling information gathered by the Winder Police Department, the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office and the three other municipal law enforcement agencies inside Barrow County, it will expand throughout the Piedmont Judicial Circuit to incorporate investigators in Banks and Jackson counties as well.