In March of 2009 the State of Georgia closed the GBI Crime Lab in Chattooga County, along with crime labs in Columbus and Moultrie.

At the time, the state was experiencing declining revenues and was forced to close the operations in Northwest Georgia as well as Central and Southwest Georgia.

Now, the state is announcing a new crime lab to be built in the Georgia Coastal Region. 

On Monday of this week, Governor Nathan Deal signed legislation that will fund a new GBI Crime Lab in Pooler, Georgia in Chatham County.

There is already a crime lab in Savannah, just under ten miles away from Pooler.  That crime lab serves thirty counties.

The addition of the new crime lab in Pooler will bring the total number of crime labs in the state to seven.

Chattooga County and other Northwest Georgia law enforcement agencies continue to be served by the crime lab in Atlanta.