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.
Decatur County, Georgia, has about 29,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Decatur County Sheriff's Office, two 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 Decatur 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: Decatur County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Decatur County
The Decatur County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Decatur County. It reported 287 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Decatur County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Bainbridge, 14,586 residents: 670 arrests reported for 2025.
- Attapulgus, 446 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 Decatur County: Southern Regional Technical College (campus police); Decatur County Schools (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Decatur 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.
- Bainbridge: 670 for 2025, 563 for 2024, 696 for 2023, 604 for 2022, 322 for 2020 and 659 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Decatur County Sheriff's Office: 287 for 2025, 394 for 2024, 352 for 2023, 378 for 2022, 338 for 2021 and 345 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 957 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 957 in 2025 against 957 in 2024.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 366 arrests, against 654 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Decatur County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Decatur 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.
On an average day in 2025 the jail held about 150 people, up from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 175 beds, and it ran at 85 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 Decatur County Sheriff's Office at decaturso.com/jail/inmate-bookings (page title: Inmate Bookings | Decatur County Sheriff's Office), phone 229.248.3050, 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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Georgia Department of Corrections lists its inmates at gdc.georgia.gov/offender-info/find-offender.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Decatur County
Whether someone was arrested in Decatur County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Decatur County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Decatur County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at decaturcountyga.gov/departments-agencies/clerk-of-court-and-court-i..., phone (229) 248-3025); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at pacga.org/find-your-prosecutor/county/dekalb, phone 404-371-2201).
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 Decatur 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 Decatur County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 229.248.3050.
- An arrest in Bainbridge or Attapulgus: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Southern Regional Technical College or Decatur County Schools: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 404-371-2201, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Decatur County Superior Court, through the court records page at decaturcountyga.gov, phone (229) 248-3025.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Decatur County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the four cities in Decatur County: Bainbridge and Attapulgus. Climax and Brinson have 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 Decatur County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Decatur County each year?
Bainbridge reported 670 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 957 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Decatur County?
Look on the custody page of the Decatur County Sheriff's Office at decaturso.com/jail/inmate-bookings, or call 229.248.3050. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Decatur County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Decatur County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Decatur 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 Decatur County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Decatur 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 Decatur 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.