A couple of knocks at the door. A pair of officers identified. And a voice that says: "We're here to evict you."

It's becoming a more common greeting these days, given the ongoing foreclosure crisis and economic woes that have tenants unable to make rent.

Last month, Gwinnett County saw 1,093 homes begin the foreclosure process, making it the county with the second-largest number of foreclosure notices, according to Equity Depot, which tracks them in metro Atlanta. Fulton County led with 1,526, and DeKalb was third with 1,062.

Those statistics have saddled county eviction officials with a ballooning workload.

Maj. David Parr, who oversees the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department's civil division, said evictions have shot up because of foreclosures. He has recorded 4,158 the first half of this year, compared with 3,749 the first half of last year.

Parr's 14 deputies are working overtime and everywhere, "from poor areas to government housing to Sugarloaf Country Club," he said. "It's certainly not a pleasant thing to do."

If an uncooperative resident is suspected inside, they might drill out locks or even kick in doors. Their job is to clear the premises for the evacuation crew, who are "not like movers coming in. They will put things in sheets and blankets" and "bundle them up" and leave everything outside the home.

Not all evictions result in a person being thrown out. Some loan and property defaults can be settled before officers arrive.

Evictions may be a salient economic bellwether, but so is much of the business at the sheriff's and marshal's offices.

From serving garnishments to seizing property, "every stat that we have is up" by as much as 50 percent, said Marshal R. Steven Mann of DeKalb County. Already, Mann's office has spent $45,000 of the $70,000 budgeted for overtime for his 18 deputies.

"If you call right now to have an eviction, it'll take you about a month before we get to it," rather than the customary two weeks, he said. Mann said he thinks evictions this year will far surpass the more than 13,000 the county recorded last year.

Since January, he has recorded 7,068.

In Fulton County, evictions from January to March totaled 4,672, compared with 3,735 during the same period in 2007.