Bonnie Parker, left, and Clyde Barrow, leaders of the notorious Barrow gang, were pursued by the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation in 1933.
DES MOINES, Iowa – On April 9, 1921, the Iowa Legislature bestowed authority in Attorney General Ben Gibson to establish the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, a centralized law enforcement agency specializing in providing cost-free support to local law enforcement agencies.
From these humble beginnings, with just a handful of agents and a budget of $37,000, the bureau has grown into the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), which provides a full spectrum of criminal investigation services — from investigative field operations to forensics analysis to support to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.