ATLANTA — Gov. Nathan Deal is asking the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to take over the state's sex offender registry review board.
His staff said he made the suggestion when he discovered the board had a 4,000-case backlog.
A viewer alerted Channel 2's Erica Byfield to the story.
Brian Robinson, Deal's Deputy Chief of Staff, told Byfield the backlog deals with determining threat levels not identifying the offenders.
"We know who they are, we know where they are living, we know what they are up to," Robinson said.
Georgia's Sex Offender Registry Review Board is connected to the Department of Behavioral Health and Development Disabilities.
The board's job is to categorize offender's threat levels. A level one offender has a low risk of offending again, a level two offender has an intermediate risk and the highest level, called a "sexually dangerous predator" is someone the board believes is more likely to offend again.
The Department of Behavioral Health and Development Disabilities does not have any ties to law enforcement, thus it makes it difficult for the board's investigators to access federal criminal databases.
Robinson said the GBI's involvement will help smooth out the process.
"It will help them do their job more effectively and we hope starting July 1, when this bill takes effect, it will begin to clear out that backlog and smooth out the kinks in the system," Robinson said.
The governor suggested the change and lawmakers have passed a bill to make the change.
Deal is expected to sign the bill within a month.
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