Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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 on September 23, 2026.
Atkinson County, Georgia, has about 8,400 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Atkinson County Sheriff's Office and two city agencies. An arrest 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 Atkinson County Superior Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Atkinson County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Atkinson County
The Atkinson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Atkinson County. It reported 223 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Pearson, 1,898 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Willacoochee, 1,258 residents.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Atkinson County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Pearson: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Atkinson County Sheriff's Office: 223 for 2025, 190 for 2024, 135 for 2023, 162 for 2022, 155 for 2021 and 107 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,375 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,375 in 2025 against 1,342 in 2024, up 2.5 percent.
Through April 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 434 arrests, against 464 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Atkinson County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Atkinson County 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 62 people on an average day, up from about 14 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 80 beds, and it is running at 78 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Atkinson County Sheriff's Office at atkinsonsheriff.org/mission-statement (page title: Mission Statement | Atkinson County Office of Sheriff), phone (912) 422-3611, 20 E Smith Ave, Pearson, GA 31642, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Atkinson County
Whether someone was arrested in Atkinson County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Atkinson County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at georgiacourts.gov/eaccess-court-records); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at atkinsoncounty.org/district-attorney, phone (912) 422-7111).
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 Atkinson County
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 Atkinson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (912) 422-3611.
- An arrest in Pearson or Willacoochee: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (912) 422-7111, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Atkinson County Superior Court, through the court records page at georgiacourts.gov/eaccess-court-records.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Atkinson County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Atkinson County: Pearson and Willacoochee.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Atkinson County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Atkinson County each year?
Pearson reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,375 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Atkinson County?
Ask the Atkinson County Sheriff's Office at (912) 422-3611; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at atkinsonsheriff.org/mission-statement.
Where are people arrested in Atkinson County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Atkinson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Atkinson County?
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 Atkinson County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Atkinson County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Georgia Open Records Act the answer is due within 3 business days.
Is this the official Atkinson County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.