History Of The Georgia Bureau Of Investigation

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History: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation as we know it today has changed and evolved over time. This has only been to make the GBI better and more effective in its operations. Before 1937 there was no state regulated law enforcement agency. It was established by Governor E. D. Rivers request in 1937, however, upon its initial establishment, it was known as Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS). In the beginning, it had two different divisions. One division within the (DPS) was the uniform division known as the Georgia State Patrol (GSP) while the other division consisted of a plain clothes division which was established as the Division of Criminal Identification, Detection, Prevention, and Investigation. Later these two divisions separate …show more content…

Around this time the GBI also had a goal to set forth a foundation for a statewide forensic service agency. This was done by seeking out a well-known forensic scientist at the time. The scientist was Dr. Herman Jones. His recruitment was a turning point for the GBI and its forensic abilities. Dr. Jones later became Director of the first and only crime laboratory in 1947 for the state of Georgia. The crime lab was Fulton County Crime Laboratory. Later in 1952, the Fulton County Crime Laboratory was reassigned to (DPS). This reassignment made Georgia the second state at the time to have its own state Crime …show more content…

It started in 1971 but officially gained headway in 1972. Governor Jimmy Carter began a study that would improve the organization of the GBI. This was because the overall Public Safety Agency would have significant changes from the department’s Reorganization Act. It was not until 1974 that the Reorganization Act was implemented. By implementing the act it permitted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to become its own entity by making it a separate state department from GSP. In doing this the GBI was renamed to the Department of Investigation. Interestingly this name only stuck for a year and was changed back to Georgia Bureau of