Specialized Work Units

The High Technology Unit  supplies auditors and agents to assist in the tracking and seizure of illegally gained assets. The unit also analyzes financial records pertaining to criminal activity, and monitors cash transaction reports. The unit provides forensic auditor support to GBI offices conducting financial investigations.

The Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force www.familyinternet.info, housed within the High Technology Unit, is one of a group of forty-six regional task forces spread throughout the United States. The Georgia ICAC Task Force began operations in April 2003, and has been in continuous operation since that time. The Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force is comprised of members from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and thirty-four affiliated agencies in the State of Georgia. Georgia’s ICAC Regional Taskforce is supervised by Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John Whitaker.

The mission of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force program is to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in developing an effective response to cyber enticement and child pornography cases. This support encompasses forensic and investigative components, training and technical assistance, victim services, prevention and community education. The ICAC Program was developed in response to the increasing number of children and teenagers using the Internet, the proliferation of child pornography, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims. By helping state and local law enforcement agencies develop effective and sustainable responses to online child victimization and child pornography, the ICAC program delivers national resources at the local level.

The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program was created by the Department of Justice to help State and local law enforcement agencies enhance their investigative response to offenders who use the Internet, online communication systems, or other computer technology to sexually exploit children. The program is currently composed of 46 regional Task Force agencies across the nation and is funded by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.   

The CyberTipline is a national reporting mechanism for cases of child sexual exploitation including child pornography, online enticement of children for sex acts, molestation of children outside the family, sex tourism of children, child victims of prostitution, and unsolicited obscene material sent to a child. Reports may be made 24-hours per day, 7 days per week online at www.cybertipline.com or by calling 1-800-843-5678.

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Crime Scene Specialist Section - Each of the GBI's regional offices is staffed with a Crime Scene Specialist. This special agent is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art crime scene processing gear and trained to use this equipment to identify, collect, forensically examine, and preserve physical evidence at crime scenes. Additionally, crime scene processing services are provided to five (5) metropolitan Atlanta counties- DeKalb, Fulton, Cobb, Clayton, and Gwinnett Counties- by GBI and FBI S/A Crime Scene Specialists assigned to the section's Metro Crime Scene Unit.

The Anti-Terrorist Team, established as part of the GBI under Georgia Code Section 35-3-63, focuses on subversive organizations such as white supremacist groups operating in Georgia. Personnel from this unit also investigate terrorist acts such as the three recent bombings in the Atlanta area.

The State Health Care Fraud Control Unit is specifically designated to investigate heath care providers defrauding the State Medicaid System. The unit is also charged with investigating and prosecuting cases of criminal patient abuse in Medicaid funded health care facilities. It is comprised of GBI agents, GBI criminal intelligence analysts, lawyers from the State Law Department and auditors from the State Department of Audits.

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The mission of the GBI Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) is to support state, local, and federal public safety agencies by responding to render safe calls with regards to suspect packages, improvised explosive devices, improvised incendiary devices, known explosive devices, destruction of old explosives, and weapons of mass destruction. The unit acts independently or works with other certified bomb squads statewide to carry out the mission.

The GBI Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) currently has twenty-five (25) certified bomb technicians located throughout the state of Georgia. There are six (6) full-time bomb technicians and nineteen (19) part-time bomb technicians.  The part-time bomb technicians are assigned to other work units but called upon when needed to respond to a bomb call.

Bomb technician candidates must complete a six week course at Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama in order to become certified a certified bomb technician. There are various other specialty schools required to be completed as well as attending monthly GBI BDU training.

Due to the acquisition of federal grant money through the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), the GBI BDU has purchased state of the art equipment in order to provide a bomb response mission in the State of Georgia.

The GBI BDU currently has 8 Bomb Response trucks in service. These trucks consist of 6 Freightliner FL 60's and 2 Ford E-350 vans. The Freightliners are in the following locations: Atlanta, Gainesville, Cartersville, Macon, Savannah, and Thomasville. One of the Ford E-350 vans is located in Douglas, Georgia.

Within the next few weeks, the GBI BDU will add three additional response trucks to their fleet. These trucks were designed to travel in more rural areas and will be placed in the following areas: East Georgia, West Georgia, and another in Atlanta. These response trucks are Ford F-550's.

The Freightliners and F-550 trucks are equipped with a full compliment of conventional bomb disposal equipment and WMD/HAZMAT equipment. All response trucks are equipped with the REMOTEC Andros brand robots.

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The Training Unit conducts basic and advanced courses for all GBI personnel. These courses include the GBI Agent Basic Course, 20 hours of annual in-service training for all GBI Agents as provided in Georgia Code Section 35-8-21, and firearms training.

The Intelligence Unit provides specialized support services to GBI agents, as well as to state, federal, and local law enforcement agencies. The unit maintains approximately 100,000 criminal intelligence reports gathered by GBI agents or submitted by other agencies who are members of various criminal justice organizations. The unit provides analytical assistance in major investigations, alerts GBI personnel about new crime trends and serves as the Georgia liaison for Interpol. The Georgia Center on Missing Children is part of the Intelligence Unit.

The statewide Polygraph Unit administers polygraph examinations for the GBI and other criminal justice agencies upon request. The GBI has eleven polygraph examiners in the Investigative Division.

Investigative Staff Services (ISS) provides certain administrative services to the entire Investigative Division. ISS orders, stocks, and maintains all agent supplies to include radios, weapons, ammunition and related materials. TheBingo Unit oversees the licensing and regulation of the State's 270 bingo operations.

The Communications Center is operational twenty-four hours a day for all three GBI Divisions. The Center responds to more than 200 telephone calls, 125 radio messages and 700 teletype messages per day.