AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is looking at crime patterns this year to improve public safety and appropriately fund the right resources across the state of Georgia.
According to the Georgia Uniform Crime Reporting program, a violent crime is committed in Georgia every fifteen minutes.
On average, that includes 9 reported rape cases a day, two murders a day and 12 robberies.
The most common type of crime in Georgia in 2023 was larceny and motor vehicle theft.
Last year, the GBI was called out to 7,000 investigations across its 15 offices in the state. The most frequent volume of cases is officer involved shootings.
The GBI's director said they want to staff resources like how they expanded the gang prosecution unit to Macon, Columbus and Southeast Georgia. Right now, they have 900 employees, but they want funding to hire more officers due to the 12% retention rate.
"I think we are maintaining but there is always a need mostly due to retirements," said GBI Director Chris Hosey. "We want to be able to back fill as quickly as we can. We are always looking to hire and going through different divisions, so we don't leave vacant positions too long and that's just to keep our work where it needs to be."
Another goal is to fund GBI's technology which the director said has reduced back logs in auto thefts and burglary cases.
Next year, the GBI said they will expand its cold case unit and certify two criminal profilers who will identify the personality of a criminal to help identify key suspects in an investigation.
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