Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 25, 2026.
Canton, Georgia, in Cherokee County, has about 38,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Cherokee County Superior Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Canton public records, Cherokee County arrest records, Georgia arrest records and Georgia inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Canton
The FBI lists Canton with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Canton Police Department. It reported 490 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,292 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Cherokee County: Cherokee County Board of Education and the Cherokee County Marshal (other); the State Patrol at Canton (state police).
How Many Arrests Canton Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Canton: 490 for 2025, 464 for 2024, 473 for 2023, 558 for 2021 and 627 for 2020; 2022 is missing months.
Canton's 490 arrests in 2025 were up 5.6 percent from 464 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Canton reported 283 arrests, against 284 in the same months of 2025.
Across Cherokee County, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,767 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Canton Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Canton and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 540 people on an average day, up from about 510 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 849 beds, and it is running at 64 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.cherokeecountyga.gov/jaillist/inmate-search-report.php (page title: Cherokee County | Inmate Search), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Georgia Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at gdc.georgia.gov/offender-info/find-offender.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Canton
Whether someone was arrested in Canton, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Cherokee County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at cherokeecountyga.gov/clerk-of-courts); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at cherokeecountyga.gov/district-attorneys-office).
Georgia is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: Georgia Felon Search lets anyone check felony convictions online by name, through the Georgia Crime Information Center. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Canton
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Georgia Open Records Act the agency must answer within 3 business days, and it may charge for search, retrieval and copying after the first quarter hour.
- An arrest by the Canton police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at cantonga.gov/government/departments/police/faqs (page title: Canton Police FAQs | Canton, GA), phone 770-720-4883, 2565 Old Milton Pkwy, Alpharetta, GA 30009, Mon-Fri, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Cherokee County Superior Court, through the court records page at cherokeecountyga.gov/clerk-of-courts.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at cherokeecountyga.gov (page title: Office of the Solicitor-General | Cherokee County, Georgia).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
The Cherokee County guide covers every agency in the county: Cherokee County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Canton each year?
Canton reported 490 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Canton?
Look on the custody page of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.cherokeecountyga.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Canton booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Canton?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Georgia Crime Information Center: Georgia Felon Search lets anyone check felony convictions online by name. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Georgia Open Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Canton?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Canton police for its own arrests, the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Georgia Open Records Act the answer is due within 3 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at cherokeecountyga.gov.
Is this the official Canton website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.