Gina V. Hawkins, President

 Gina V. Hawkins is presently the Assistant Chief Deputy for Cobb County Sheriff’s Office in Cobb County, Georgia. Prior to joining Cobb County, she served as the Chief of Police of Fayetteville, North Carolina from 2017 until she retired in February 2023. She has more than 35 years of law enforcement experience, starting her career in 1988 with the City of Atlanta Police Department. She worked in many divisions before retiring as an assistant zone commander in 2006. She then served with the City of Sandy Springs, Georgia, Police Department, which was formed in 2006, as a commander. Chief Hawkins was instrumental in establishing an efficient, forward-thinking police department and commanded many units. In 2013, Chief Hawkins joined the Clayton County, Georgia, Police Department as a deputy chief of police, where she presided at different times over both the Operational Command and the Support Service Command. 

Chief Hawkins has a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Georgia State University and a Masters in Management from Johns Hopkins University. Chief Hawkins is a graduate of the 252nd Session of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy and was chosen as a delegate in the prestigious 23rd Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE), where she traveled to Israel with other law enforcement executives to study and evaluate the Israeli Police Force. Chief Hawkins is a 2010 graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police, presented by the Police Executive Research Forum. Chief Hawkins is an alumna of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Education Program and earned an executive certificate in public leadership by completing the Senior Executives in National and International Security, Leadership in Crises, and Leadership Decision Making Programs. 

In 2019, Chief Hawkins was awarded the North Carolina Dogwood Award by Attorney General Joshua H. Stein for pursuing community solutions to North Carolina’s most pressing safety issues. In 2020, the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives (NAWLEE) awarded Chief Hawkins the Women Law Enforcement Executive of the Year Award. In January 2020, she was sworn in by the attorney general to serve as a commissioner on the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. She served on the Executive Board of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) from 2017 to 2021. She currently serves as the President of NAWLEE. She is a member of NOBLE, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association.