The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is a state bureau of investigation in Georgia, USA. It is an independent, statewide agency that provides assistance to Georgias criminal justice system in the areas of criminal investigations, forensic laboratory services, and computerized criminal justice information. The GBI was created in 1937 as a plainclothes investigative division called the Division of Identification, Detection, Prevention, and Investigation. Since then, it has expanded to include several divisions, including the Investigative Division, the Division of Forensic Sciences (state crime lab), and the Georgia Crime Information Center. The GBI responds to requests for assistance from local law enforcement officials to investigate major crimes throughout Georgia. The agency is responsible for maintaining criminal identification records and providing law enforcement agencies throughout the state with round-the-clock access to criminal justice information. The GBI is also responsible for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting all aspects of physical evidence for officers, investigators, and District Attorneys throughout the state. The GBI can only respond to requests for investigations from governing officials of a municipality, district attorneys, sheriffs, superior court judges, chief law enforcement officers of any municipality, chiefs of county police departments (in counties with population in excess of 100,000), chiefs of regular or volunteer fire departments (in suspected arson cases), and the Governor of Georgia (by directive) .