September 27, 2022

ATLANTA - The Georgia Commission on Family Violence (GCFV) presented a joint Moving the Work Forward Award to the Criminal Justice Information System Operations Unit and the Temporary Protective Order Forum during the 28th Annual Family Violence Conference.

The Moving the Work Forward Award is presented to organizations that are innovative in their approaches and actions to ensure that all victims of domestic violence are provided the necessary resources to live free of violence in their homes.

The Georgia Temporary Protective Order (TPO) Forum originally began as the Metro Atlanta TPO Forum and was first created in 2017 by attorneys and advocates from Cobb, Dekalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Clayton counties.  The founding members embraced the idea that there were best practices in place during the TPO process, as well as areas to be improved.  The premise was that counties could share their expertise and pitfalls to improve and support the process, and collectively create a better survivor experience. 

The Forum launched with a year-long, 5-county tour, hundreds of hours of collaboration and discussion that culminated with the creation of the TPO Best Practices Guide. The Guide is a comprehensive report that makes best practice recommendations on every aspect of a survivor’s legal journey through the process.

In late 2019, the TPO Forum expanded and invited programs and partners statewide, which resulted in its changing its name to the Georgia TPO Forum.

Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) Operations is one of many units within the Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) division, a division within the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). CJIS Operations consists of multiple programs that facilitate the daily operations of the criminal justice community. The programs include the Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry (SOR), Georgia’s Protective Order Registry (POR), Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR), CJIS Validations, Mental Health/NICS Records and Offline Searches. GBI serves as the central repository for Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry (SOR), Protective Order Registry (POR), Mental Health/NICS records and Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data submitted by local agencies.

CJIS Operations works directly with local agencies on submitting their monthly family violence reports and daily protective orders. This crucial work ensures criminal justice stakeholders have access to protective orders, and enhances victim safety by identifying individuals federally prohibited from purchasing a firearm.

The Operations Unit released a joint statement upon receipt of the award stating, “Thank you to the Georgia Commission on Family Violence for recognizing CJIS Operations with this prestigious award. We strive to provide our law enforcement community, key stakeholders, and the citizens of Georgia accessibility to family violence data to assist in providing tools to enhance victim safety.”

The Commission’s 28th Annual Family Violence Conference was held in Athens, Georgia, on September 25-28, 2022. The theme of this year’s conference was Widening the Lens: An Inclusive Response to Family Violence . More than 650 local and national stakeholders attended the conference, including judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, advocates, survivors, faith leaders, counselors and community members.

About GCFV: The Georgia Commission on Family Violence, created by The Georgia General Assembly in 1992, is charged with developing a state plan for ending family violence in Georgia. If you or someone that you know is being impacted by domestic violence, call 1-800-334-2836 to speak with a domestic violence advocate.
 

Press Contact: April Ross, [email protected]