Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, or TBI is the criminal investigative arm of the state government of Tennessee.

It was established by the Tennessee General Assembly on March 27, 1980, as an independent state agency. The TBI manages the state's three crime labs, assists local law enforcement in investigating major crimes, and conducts special investigations related to illegal drugs, fugitives, public corruption, official misconduct, organized crime, domestic terrorism, healthcare fraud, and patient abuse.

The TBI has statutory responsibility for collecting state crime statistics, which are published in an annual “Crime in Tennessee” report. It also manages a TBI Most Wanted list, AMBER Alert program, and statewide registries of sex offenders and methamphetamine offenders.^[1]

The TBI is headed by a director who is appointed by the governor for a 6-year term. The director is also a member of the Tennessee Law Enforcement Planning Commission. The current director is Mark Gwyn, who was appointed in 2004. The agency employs about 500 people, almost half of whom are commissioned officers.^[1]

The motto of the TBI is "that guilt shall not escape, nor innocence suffer".