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.
Clarke County, Georgia, has about 130,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clarke County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and four 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 Clarke 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: Clarke County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clarke County
The Clarke County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clarke County. It reported 0 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Clarke County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Winterville, 1,196 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.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Clarke County: Athens Technical College and the University of Georgia (campus police); the State Patrol at Cedartown and the State Patrol at Athens (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Clarke County
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.
- Athens-Clarke County: 2,679 for 2025, 2,761 for 2024, 2,677 for 2023, 2,321 for 2022, 2,022 for 2021 and 2,068 for 2020.
- Clarke County Sheriff's Office: 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022 and 2 for 2021.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 2,761 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 2,761 in 2024 against 2,677 in 2023, up 3.1 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clarke County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Clarke 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 490 people on an average day, up from about 410 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 839 beds, and it is running at 58 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 Clarke County Sheriff's Office at accgov.com/1299/Current-List-of-Inmates-Clarke-County-Ja (page title: Current List of Inmates (Clarke County Jail) | Athens-Clarke County, GA), 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 Clarke County
For Clarke County the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at accgov.com/365/District-Attorney, phone 706-613-3240).
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 Clarke 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 Clarke County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Winterville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Athens Technical College, the State Patrol at Cedartown or the State Patrol at Athens: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 706-613-3240, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at accgov.com/4987/Open-Records-Request (page title: Open Records Request | Athens-Clarke County, GA).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Clarke County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Winterville, the one city in Clarke County. The FBI's list also carries the Athens-Clarke County Police Department as a city agency in Clarke County; Athens-Clarke County is not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Clarke County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clarke County each year?
Athens-Clarke County reported 2,679 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Clarke County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 2,761 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Clarke County?
Ask the Clarke County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at accgov.com.
Where are people arrested in Clarke County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clarke County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clarke 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 Clarke County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clarke 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 accgov.com/4987/Open-Records-Request.
Is this the official Clarke 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.