The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Monday the promotion of Lindsay Smith to Special Agent in Charge of the GBI Region 5 Investigative Office in Statesboro.

Smith will be responsible for supervision of the Region 5 staff, which serves a 10-county area and conducts major investigations, including use of force, violent crimes against persons, fraud and other felonies.

“It is my distinct honor to promote Lindsay Smith to the rank of Special Agent in Charge of the Region 5 Office,” said GBI Director Mike Register. “Agent Smith has demonstrated a competence and commitment that should be an example for others to follow. I look forward to having her continued leadership in Region 5.”

Division Director of Investigations Cynthia Adkins said, “SAC Lindsay Smith has been a leader, mentor and role model for a number of years as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge. I look forward to seeing the work unit continue to flourish and be successful with her as the SAC.”

Smith began her law enforcement career in June 2003 as a special agent with the Altamaha Drug Task Force in Baxley, after completing a student internship with the GBI Statesboro office that spring.

In February 2006, she was hired by the GBI as a narcotics agent, where she was assigned to the ADTF. She was later promoted to a special agent and assigned to the GBI Kingsland office. In September 2015, she was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Southeastern Regional Drug Enforcement Office, where she served until she was transferred to the Statesboro office in November 2018.

She served as the assistant in the Statesboro office until her promotion on Monday. Smith is also a P.O.S.T. certified instructor and the GBI Child Abuse Coordinator. 

Smith earned an Associate of Science degree in criminal justice from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. She then earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice from Georgia Southern University – Armstrong Campus in Savannah.

Smith is originally from Riceboro and resides in Glennville.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is comprised of four divisions: the Georgia Crime Information Center, the Crime Laboratory, the Investigative Division, and the Legal Division. The GBI has just under 900 employees and a current budget of $147,482,036.