According to the Bureau’s website, the primary objective of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is to “…provide the highest quality investigative, scientific, and informational services and resources to the criminal justice community for the purpose of maintaining law and order and protecting life and property”. In addition to this, the Bureau also releases monthly reports that shows the breakdown of their efforts.

In March 1937, at the request of then Governor E. D. Rivers, the General Assembly passed Act 220 that established the Department of Public Safety, creating the first statewide law enforcement agency in Georgia. Two divisions were then created within the Department: a uniform division, the Georgia State Patrol; and a “plainclothes” division. The former was officially designated the Division of Criminal Identification, Detection, Prevention, and Investigation. It was renamed the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 1940.