Georgia Bureau of Investigation
404-270-8148

The Medical Examiner's Office of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation provides complete forensic pathology services to 153 of Georgia’s 159 counties in deaths which qualify as coroner cases under the Georgia Death Investigation Act. The Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Georgia oversees the GBI’s medical examiner (M.E.) program and also establishes policies and guidelines for all Georgia coroners and local medical examiners.

Services:

Anthropology
The examination of human skeletal remains involving crime scenes, mass disasters, and other types of casualty investigations directed toward the analysis and personal identification of human remains.

Autopsy
The Division of Forensic Sciences provides a complete service in Forensic Pathology under the authority of the Georgia Death Investigation Act.

Histology
Histological examination of tissues to document natural disease processes that are grossly apparent is at the discretion of the medical examiner and is dependent on the nature of the death.

Legal Services:

The Legal Services Division is staffed with six full-time employees, including two attorneys (the director and deputy director); an assistant deputy director (ADD and a records managemenemen); an assistant deput technician.

Open Records

The Open Records Unit, which includes archives management, is within Legal Services and functions under the direction of the ADD. The ADD has a legal assistant and a records management technician to assist in the processing of open records and archives requests. Requests pursuant to the Georgia Open Records Act have continued to increase, from 2,445 in FY'03 to 2,904 in FY'04. In addition to the requests, the Open Records Unit processed 97 subpoenas, 62 court orders, 105 production of document requests, and orchestrated the release of more than 140 biological specimens.

The Open Records Unit continued to provide training sessions to various criminal justice agencies throughout the state regarding the Open Records Act. More than 900 personnel were trained on this subject throughout the year.

GBI Investigative Reports, Crime Lab Reports, Etc.

To obtain documents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, please direct your Open Records Act requests (under O.C.G.A. 50-18-70) to:

Open Records Unit
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
3121 Panthersville Road
Decatur, Georgia 30034

Or

Fax your request to 404-270-8529

Or

Email your request to [email protected]

The Coroner works with medical and law enforcement personnel in the investigation of death. The Coroner has the power to subpoena, administer oaths, and compel attendance at the Coroner's inquest. It is the Coroner's duty to issue a death certificate for persons whose death becomes a coroner case.