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 2023. 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 26, 2026.
Waynesboro, Georgia, in Burke County, has about 5,600 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 Burke 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: Waynesboro public records, Burke County arrest records, Georgia arrest records and Georgia inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Waynesboro
The FBI lists Waynesboro with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Waynesboro Police Department. It reported 76 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year. 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 Burke County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 114 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Waynesboro 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.
- Waynesboro: 76 for 2023, 33 for 2022, 35 for 2021, 53 for 2020 and 150 for 2019.
Across Burke County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 114 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Waynesboro Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Waynesboro 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 100 people on an average day, down from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 135 beds, and it is running at 74 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Waynesboro
Whether someone was arrested in Waynesboro, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Burke County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at burkecounty-ga.gov/government/courts/state_court.php, phone (706) 554-3460); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at pacga.org/find-your-prosecutor/county/burke, phone 706-821-1135).
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 Waynesboro
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Waynesboro police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at waynesboroga.com/122/Police (page title: Police | Waynesboro, GA), phone 706-554-8030, 628 Myrick Street Waynesboro, GA 30830, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Burke County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 706-821-1135, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Burke County Superior Court, through the court records page at burkecounty-ga.gov, phone (706) 554-3460.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at burkecounty-ga.gov (page title: Welcome to Burke County, Georgia).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
The Burke County guide covers every agency in the county: Burke County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Waynesboro each year?
Waynesboro reported 76 arrests to the FBI for 2023, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Waynesboro booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Burke County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Waynesboro?
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 Waynesboro?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Waynesboro police for its own arrests, the Burke 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 burkecounty-ga.gov.
Is this the official Waynesboro 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.