Courtney Bonds always knew she wanted to be involved in law enforcement.
“Still to this day, I watch criminal shows — ‘FBI,’ ‘Live PD,’ ‘Chicago PD’ — I love shows like that,” she said. “That’s what drew me to the field.”
Now, as administrative assistant in the University of Georgia Police Department’s records unit, she plays an important role in their work.
Bonds joined the department in 2023. Prior to that, she served as the civil clerk for the Oglethorpe County Superior Court. She earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Georgia Southern and is working on a master’s degree in public administration at Columbus State University.
When she was younger, Bonds thought she wanted to be an FBI agent. She eventually realized all of the background work is just as critical.
“I love working in an office,” she said. “You get to be hands-on and learn new things.”
Bonds enjoys working on the administrative side of law enforcement and often serves as the first point of contact for individuals seeking assistance. She helps community members who need to file a report with an officer, retrieve property or obtain guidance on non-police-related matters.
Each morning, Bonds logs all citations and warnings received from officers and assists the department’s crime analysts with entering citations and warnings related specifically to bicycles and scooters. Once this process is complete, she forwards the citations to the Athens Clarke-County Municipal Court for further processing.
Bonds is also responsible for handling a significant portion of the department’s reports. She logs and forwards reports to various campus departments and the courthouse and fulfills requests from individuals and external agencies. Older reports are archived in a repository, with records retained for 30 years, and the three most recent years are kept readily accessible.
Perhaps even more importantly, Bonds redacts reports as necessary. Through training and guidance from her supervisor, she has developed a strong understanding of what information must be redacted to ensure compliance and accuracy. While she completes the initial redactions, the unit has a review process in place to double-check her work for quality and correctness.
Although each day begins the same, no two days are the same for Bonds, depending on the calls that come to the department. The strong relationships with the people she works with, though, remain consistent.
“My co-workers are like family,” she said. “They make it fun. We’ll do lunch and joke around, just like family.”
Right now, Bonds’ main goal is to finish her MPA. She has a handful of classes left and was inspired to continue her education by her grandfather. Not only does that coursework provide more context for her current work, but Bonds also said it shows her 3-year-old daughter that she can be anything she wants to be.
“No matter how small you think your title is, your work is just as important in this field,” she said. “Even though I’m not a police officer, my job is still important to getting things done.”