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.
Cherokee County, Georgia, has about 294,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, five city agencies and three campus, state or other 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 Cherokee 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: Cherokee County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Cherokee County
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cherokee County. It reported 2,292 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in Cherokee County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Woodstock, 39,381 residents: 780 arrests reported for 2025.
- Canton, 38,049 residents: 490 arrests reported for 2025.
- Holly Springs, 20,133 residents: 24 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ball Ground, 3,311 residents: 29 arrests reported for 2025.
- Nelson, 1,171 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
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.
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 Each Agency Reports in Cherokee 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.
- Cherokee County Sheriff's Office: 2,292 for 2025, 2,333 for 2024, 2,499 for 2023, 2,534 for 2022, 2,703 for 2021 and 2,674 for 2020.
- Nelson: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Woodstock: 780 for 2025, 969 for 2024, 844 for 2023, 740 for 2022, 807 for 2021 and 633 for 2020.
- Canton: 490 for 2025, 464 for 2024, 473 for 2023, 558 for 2021 and 627 for 2020; 2022 is missing months.
- Ball Ground: 29 for 2025, 21 for 2023, 22 for 2022, 26 for 2021, 30 for 2020 and 46 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Holly Springs: 24 for 2025, 41 for 2024, 40 for 2023, 17 for 2022, 11 for 2021 and 24 for 2020.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,767 arrests that year. The five of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,738 in 2025 against 4,959 in 2024, down 4.5 percent.
Through July 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,828 arrests, against 2,875 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cherokee County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Cherokee 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 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 Cherokee County
An arrest in Cherokee County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: 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 Cherokee County
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 Cherokee County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Woodstock, Canton, Holly Springs, Ball Ground or Nelson: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Cherokee County Board of Education, the Cherokee County Marshal or the State Patrol at Canton: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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.
Cities in Cherokee County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the six cities in Cherokee County: Woodstock, Canton, Holly Springs, Ball Ground and Nelson. Waleska has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Cherokee County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Cherokee County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Woodstock (39,381)
- Canton (38,049)
- Holly Springs (20,133)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cherokee County each year?
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office reported 2,292 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,767 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cherokee County?
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 Cherokee County 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 Cherokee 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 Cherokee County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cherokee 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at cherokeecountyga.gov.
Is this the official Cherokee 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.