"Those guys always come running when we need help," said Charlton County Sheriff Dobie Conner, who like other sheriffs in rural counties has limited manpower.

"Whatever resources they have that we need, they make available to us. We can't afford to lose them and their support," Conner said.

But lose them they may.

A proposal to cut or eliminate outright the GBI's investigative division surfaced recently in the General Assembly as lawmakers struggle with Georgia's budget deficit. Three of the GBI's regional crime laboratories already are being closed as a cost-cutting measure.

Such cuts are "a big mistake," Conner said.

Prosecutors agree. Eliminating the GBI agents "would be devastating to me, my office, my community and my circuit," said District Attorney Rick Currie of the six-county Waycross Judicial Circuit.

Currie, whose circuit is served by GBI regional offices in Kingsland and Douglas, is among prosecutors statewide urging lawmakers to "oppose any proposal that eliminates or weakens the GBI's Investigative Division."

"I simply do not have the manpower or resources to investigate major crimes," said Currie, who has one investigator.

Currie also worries he will see an increase in crime as state inmates are released early in response to make room in prisons for more serious offenders. At the same time, the state is closing prisons and probation detention centers.

The circuit's sheriffs and most of its police chiefs request GBI assistance on major crimes, internal investigations and crimes involving multiple jurisdictions, he said.

Reducing or eliminating GBI agents would have far-reaching consequences, said District Attorney Stephen Kelley of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, who is chairman of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council.

"Law enforcement needs to be given priority ... If the state's crime rate goes through the roof, it's not an attractive place for businesses to locate or tourists to come visit," Kelley said.

The GBI's investigative division has 245 agents statewide including 132 divided among 15 regional field offices. The remainder are assigned to specialized units such as drug task forces, the bomb squad, health care fraud and the Internet child pornography task force.

Agents assigned to the adjacent Douglas and Kingsland field offices investigate major crimes ranging from homicides to child molestation and complex financial or identity fraud cases in 18 South Georgia counties.

The agents also investigate disappearances, unexplained deaths, police-involved shootings, deaths of people in jail or police custody and cases in which local law enforcement might have a conflict of interest.

"If we can help, we're going to help," said Mike McDaniel, special agent in charge of the GBI's Kingsland office.

The Kingsland office has seven agents including McDaniel. They investigate crimes in seven counties: Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Glynn, Long, McIntosh and Wayne, which are divided among three state judicial circuits.

The agents have opened 108 cases so far this fiscal year, which is about 60 percent of the 179 cases opened during the previous year. They've investigated 24 deaths this year, which is more than double the number last year, McDaniel said.

Glynn County police, the largest police force in the Kingsland region, relied on GBI agents for assistance when the department's entire detective division was investigating the Aug. 29 beating deaths of eight people at New Hope Mobile Home Park in Brunswick.

GBI agents investigated a half-dozen county cases including two deaths and two armed robberies during that time. Police officials called on the GBI to investigate when a St. Simons Island man was shot to death by an officer during a three-hour standoff on Sept. 10. In addition, the GBI investigated the death of a 17-year-old inmate at the Glynn County Detention Center on May 16.

When 7-year-old Somer Thompson's body was discovered at a Charlton County landfill on Oct. 21, GBI agents helped comb through the garbage in search of evidence.

Agents assigned to the GBI's Douglas office also remain busy. It has nine agents including two supervisors, a crime scene technician and a computer forensic specialist. They cover 11 counties: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Berrien, Clinch, Coffee, Cook, Jeff Davis, Lanier, Pierce and Ware, also divided among three judicial circuits.

They have opened 212 cases so far this fiscal year, which is about 77 percent of the 277 cases they opened the previous year, said Russell Mansfield, special agent in charge of the GBI's Douglas region.

"It hasn't slowed down any," Mansfield said.

Conner said Charlton County can<t afford to replace the GBI<s services.

"We're a small county, and money is very tight. If we lose the support of these agents, we're going to have to pay for the services ourselves. And, we don't have that kind of money. We need them," Conner said.