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.
DeKalb County, Georgia, has about 770,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, one other county agency, ten city agencies and seven 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 DeKalb 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: DeKalb County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in DeKalb County
The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for DeKalb County. It reported 35 arrests for 2025.
The DeKalb County Police Department also reports arrests to the FBI as another county agency of DeKalb County.
The FBI lists ten cities in DeKalb County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Brookhaven, 59,370 residents: 2,462 arrests reported for 2025.
- Dunwoody, 51,795 residents: 1,343 arrests reported for 2025.
- Chamblee, 32,321 residents: 585 arrests reported for 2025.
- Decatur, 24,482 residents: 395 arrests reported for 2025.
- Clarkston, 14,416 residents: 312 arrests reported for 2025.
- Doraville, 12,436 residents: 621 arrests reported for 2025.
- Stone Mountain, 6,552 residents: 80 arrests reported for 2025.
- Avondale Estates, 3,526 residents: 52 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lithonia, 2,581 residents: 36 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pine Lake, 752 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 Atlanta Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including DeKalb County, so its arrests are not broken out for DeKalb County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in DeKalb County: the Stone Mountain Park Police, the DeKalb County Marshal and DeKalb County School System (other); Agnes Scott College, Emory University and Georgia Piedmont Technical College (campus police); the State Patrol at Metropolitan Traffic Unit, Atlanta (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in DeKalb 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.
- DeKalb County Police Department: 3,320 for 2025, 3,602 for 2024, 3,538 for 2023, 4,031 for 2022 and 4,274 for 2021.
- Brookhaven: 2,462 for 2025, 2,265 for 2024, 2,183 for 2023, 1,990 for 2022, 1,902 for 2021 and 1,613 for 2020.
- Dunwoody: 1,343 for 2025, 1,568 for 2024, 1,896 for 2023, 1,657 for 2022, 1,501 for 2021 and 1,400 for 2020.
- Doraville: 621 for 2025, 678 for 2023, 631 for 2022, 615 for 2021 and 676 for 2020; 2024 is missing months.
- Chamblee: 585 for 2025, 616 for 2024, 667 for 2023, 657 for 2022, 579 for 2021 and 556 for 2020.
- Decatur: 395 for 2025, 369 for 2024, 294 for 2023, 311 for 2022, 309 for 2021 and 279 for 2020.
- Clarkston: 312 for 2025, 217 for 2024, 153 for 2023, 73 for 2022, 100 for 2021 and 114 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Stone Mountain: 80 for 2025, 98 for 2024, 76 for 2023, 23 for 2022, 22 for 2021 and 50 for 2020.
- Avondale Estates: 52 for 2025.
- Lithonia: 36 for 2025, 38 for 2024, 34 for 2023 and 61 for 2022.
- DeKalb County Sheriff's Office: 35 for 2025, 17 for 2024, 48 for 2023, 94 for 2022 and 98 for 2021.
Together, the 11 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 9,241 arrests that year. The nine of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 8,568 in 2025 against 8,790 in 2024, down 2.5 percent.
Through April 2026, the ten agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,992 arrests, against 3,041 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in DeKalb County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in DeKalb 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 1,920 people on an average day, up from about 1,670 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 3,500 beds, and it is running at 55 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 DeKalb County Sheriff's Office at dekalbsheriff.com (page title: DeKalb County Jail, IN Inmate Roster, Booking, Arrests, Warrants), 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 DeKalb County
Whether someone was arrested in DeKalb County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the DeKalb County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at dekalbgastatecourt.gov).
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 DeKalb 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 DeKalb County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Chamblee, Decatur, Clarkston, Doraville or another of the cities listed above: 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 the Stone Mountain Park Police, the DeKalb County Marshal or Agnes Scott College: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the DeKalb County Superior Court, through the court records page at dekalbgastatecourt.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at dekalbcountyga.gov (page title: Open Records Request | DeKalb County, GA).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in DeKalb County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for ten of the 12 cities in DeKalb County: Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Chamblee, Decatur, Clarkston, Doraville, Stone Mountain, Avondale Estates, Lithonia and Pine Lake. Stonecrest and Tucker 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 DeKalb County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in DeKalb County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in DeKalb County each year?
The DeKalb County Police Department reported 3,320 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 11 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 9,241 between them.
Where are people arrested in DeKalb County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in DeKalb 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 DeKalb County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the DeKalb 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 dekalbcountyga.gov.
Is this the official DeKalb 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.