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 between September 23, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Clayton County, Georgia, has about 298,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clayton County Police Department, six city agencies and two 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 Clayton 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: Clayton County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clayton County
The Clayton County Police Department is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clayton County. It reported 5,866 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists six cities in Clayton County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Forest Park, 19,301 residents: 1,723 arrests reported for 2025.
- Riverdale, 14,586 residents.
- Lovejoy, 12,612 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Morrow, 6,262 residents: 624 arrests reported for 2025.
- Jonesboro, 6,084 residents.
- Lake City, 2,889 residents: 91 arrests reported for 2024.
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 College Park Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Clayton County, so its arrests are not broken out for Clayton County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Clayton County: Clayton State University (campus police); Clayton County Schools (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Clayton 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.
- Forest Park: 1,723 for 2025, 1,402 for 2024, 1,197 for 2023, 785 for 2022, 861 for 2021 and 902 for 2020.
- Lovejoy: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Morrow: 624 for 2025, 846 for 2024, 803 for 2023, 924 for 2022, 717 for 2021 and 647 for 2020.
- Clayton County Police Department: 5,866 for 2024, 4,485 for 2023, 5,071 for 2022 and 4,866 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Lake City: 91 for 2024, 109 for 2023, 40 for 2022, 17 for 2021, 22 for 2020 and 25 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,499 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,499 in 2025 against 3,400 in 2024, up 2.9 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,647 arrests, against 2,100 in the same months of 2025.
Clayton County Police Department and Lake City reported only part of 2025 (6 months and 10 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clayton County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Clayton County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 1,380 people, down from about 1,930 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 1,426 beds, and it ran at 97 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Clayton County Police Department at claytonsheriff.com/clayton-county-inmate-search (page title: Clayton County Jail Inmate Search: Bookings & Records), phone (770) 477-4441, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Clayton County
An arrest in Clayton County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Clayton County Police Department described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Clayton County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at weba.claytoncountyga.gov/casinqsvr/htdocs/index.shtml).
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 Clayton 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 Clayton County Police Department: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (770) 477-4441.
- An arrest in Forest Park, Riverdale, Lovejoy, Morrow, Jonesboro or Lake City: 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 Clayton State University or Clayton County Schools: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Clayton County Superior Court, through the court records page at weba.claytoncountyga.gov.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Clayton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the six cities in Clayton County: Forest Park, Riverdale, Lovejoy, Morrow, Jonesboro and Lake City.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Clayton County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Clayton County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Forest Park (19,301)
- Riverdale (14,586)
- Lovejoy (12,612)
- Morrow (6,262)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clayton County each year?
Forest Park reported 1,723 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,499 between them.
Where are people arrested in Clayton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clayton County Police Department; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clayton 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 Clayton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clayton County Police Department 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 Clayton 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.