On Thursday evening, various civic and law enforcement leaders gathered at the LaGrange Police Department to begin planning Troup County’s first Record Restriction Day. Record restriction under Georgia law simply means that eligible records on an individual’s official criminal history report are restricted from public view and are only accessible to law enforcement for criminal justice purposes.

The process by which to restrict criminal records in Georgia is complex, and restriction is only available in three situations, those being non-convictions, a situation with a youthful offender and situations where a person is charged with a felony, but convicted of an unrelated misdemeanor offense in that case. There are a litany of exceptions to these restrictions, which can be viewed at Gjp.com.

To those people who qualify for record restriction, the process to do so can be arduous, which is where the LaGrange Police Department, with the assistance of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Troup County Sheriff’s Office, is stepping up to help.

While a date has not been set yet, a Record Restriction Day is in the works, which will allow individuals to come and learn the fate of their record restriction application, which they will fill out ahead of time. This will greatly expedite the process and will allow people to know the fate of their application with finality, quickly.

This has happened in surrounding counties, and more than 700 people have showed up for these events in places such as Fulton County.

The leaders in LaGrange do not have to offer this service, but understand for this community to continue to move in the direction it is moving, services like these are needed.

Acquiring and maintaining consistent employment can be difficult with a criminal record, and it can be easy for people to fall back into bad and illicit habits.

This service is being offered to people who have paid the price for their mistake, and need a helping hand to avoid returning to previous ways of life.

The implantation of a Record Restriction Day will help continue to move LaGrange and Troup County in a positive direction.