GBI Opens Drug Enforcement Office in Albany
On October 1, 2019, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation officially opened the Southwestern Regional
Drug Enforcement Office (RDEO) in Albany, Georgia. Since the early 1980’s, the GBI has had a significant
drug enforcement presence in Southwest Georgia. In those early days, the GBI traditionally worked large
scale organizations involving air smuggling operations. In the late 80‘s and early 90’s, the GBI’s mission
shifted and more emphasis was placed on street-level drug sales and field investigations.
After the flood of 1994 in Albany, the RDEO transitioned to a regional investigative office which focused
on crimes against persons for local agencies. It remained a regional office until it was moved to Sylvester,
Georgia in 1999. While GBI agents maintained a good relationship with our local partners in Albany,
Dougherty County, not having a centralized drug enforcement office hindered operations.
In August of 2018, Albany Chief of Police Mike Persley and Special Agent in Charge Joe Chesnut began
discussions about the GBI RDEO concept. Chief Persley indicated that there may be some interest among
the other law enforcement executives in the area to bring an office back to Albany.
Over the next six months, the City of Albany and Dougherty County leaders met to discuss the possibility
of establishing a new office. After much consideration, all parties agreed to create the Southwestern RDEO.
This office is a combination of state and local resources utilized to combat drug and gang violations. It is the
fourth RDEO overseen by the GBI in the state of Georgia.
The Southwestern RDEO program covers 42 Georgia counties, including the entire southwest and south-
central Georgia area. The unit is designed to address drug enforcement within these 42 counties by closing
the gap between local law enforcement efforts and federal enforcement efforts.
The Southwestern RDEO was designed to directly impact the drug flow and gang activity within the 42
counties of operation by attacking drug distributors that do not generally warrant federal investigative efforts
but are outside of the scope or capabilities of local law enforcement efforts. The mission is to address
trafficking level violators and violent gang members that have a direct impact on single jurisdictions or within
multiple counties. The office provides local jurisdictions with an investigative team of highly trained and well-
equipped agents to address the drug traffickers that local agencies cannot address because of funding,
training, equipment, or jurisdictional issues.
Drug enforcement within Georgia has traditionally been addressed successfully at the local level because most
drug violators were not mobile. They served a specific area within a specific jurisdiction thus making them
accessible to local law enforcement efforts. The Southwestern RDEO has the technical expertise, equipment,
and training to conduct wiretap investigations and long-term surveillances, both of which are manpower
intensive. This ability is an absolute requirement to successfully investigate regional drug traffickers.
www.gachiefs.com • Page 16 • 1st Quarter Newsletter