Gov. Brian Kemp names longtime agent to lead Georgia Bureau of Investigation

Chris Hosey will lead the Georgia Bureau of Investigation beginning Aug. 1 after he was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp.

Hosey’s appointment was approved Saturday by the state Board of Public Safety. He is taking over for Mike Register, who’s stepping down after less than a year on the job. Register is Cobb County’s next public safety director.

With nearly 1,000 employees, the bureau helps local law enforcement agencies investigate murders and other serious crimes. Its agents investigate almost all shootings by police officers. The GBI also performs autopsies and runs the state’s crime lab.

Hosey is assistant director of the agency and oversees its investigative division, the agency’s largest unit.

He joined the bureau as a narcotics agent in 1987 and was put in charge of a drug task force in 2001, helping create the agency’s first state/local regional drug enforcement office. In 2012, Hosey was in charge of drug operations, some general investigative offices, and the agency’s training unit. Former GBI Director Vic Reynolds appointed him to be deputy director of investigations in 2020.