The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office enters 2026 as the third-largest full-service sheriff’s office in Georgia. While Forsyth County is the eighth-largest Georgia county, the FCSO has full law enforcement responsibility for nearly 300,000 residents here, with only one municipality, Cumming. The new year brings new challenges as the Sheriff’s Office has assumed control of the Pet Adoption and Resource Center (PARC), which includes the animal shelter and animal control; as well as the Park Rangers who protect our lake and recreational parks. We are excited to see the improvements at the PARC and our robust growth of how we best care for our vulnerable animals.
Crime rates in Forsyth remain the lowest in the metropolitan Atlanta region, a distinction held for the past decade. Crime rates today are lower than a decade ago, but technology and transient criminals challenge us at every turn. FCSO continues to see repeat offenders from metro areas attempting to commit crimes in Forsyth. Many of these offenders have multiple felony arrest in other jurisdictions but remain free for reasons that boggle the mind. I am happy to report that unlike some areas, the criminal justice system in Forsyth County is exactly as it should be, fair to all concerned but holding criminals found guilty accountable for their actions.
Our Real Time Crime Center continues to be instrumental in keeping Forsyth safe and has helped resolve hundreds of crimes through the use of technology. As criminals get more advanced and crimes such as financial scams continue to rise, the specialty investigative units of the FCSO become even more vital to keeping our citizens safe. Our Hi-Tech Crime, Financial Crime and Computer Forensic units continue to locate and hold criminals accountable who mistakenly thought they could hide behind a keyboard. Our School Resource Officer unit now has 61 deputies assigned with every school staffed by one or more SROs, and the unit has dedicated drug and explosive detection dogs, as well as juvenile detectives who investigate all school threats…