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). Every warrant for DeKalb County comes from a judge of the DeKalb County Superior Court or the State Court and Magistrate Court, is served by whichever agency finds the person, and is recorded in the court file of the case it was issued in. This guide says who issues and serves warrants here, where a person arrested on one is held, how to check for one and how one is cleared.
This guide covers who issues warrants, who serves warrants, after a warrant arrest, checking for a warrant, clearing a warrant and common questions.
Related guides: DeKalb County public records, DeKalb County arrest records, DeKalb County inmate search, DeKalb County criminal records, DeKalb County court records, Georgia arrest records and Georgia inmate search.
Who Issues Warrants in DeKalb County
In Georgia an arrest warrant is signed by a judge. For DeKalb County that means the DeKalb County Superior Court, which hears felonies, divorces, land title cases and civil cases without a dollar limit; the State Court and Magistrate Court issue their own warrants on the cases before them. A city with a municipal court of its own issues warrants on the tickets and ordinance cases it tries.
When a defendant misses a court date the judge issues a bench warrant, and either kind of warrant lives in the court file of the case, kept by the Clerk of Superior Court.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at dekalbgastatecourt.gov (page title: DeKalb County State Court), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Georgia has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
Who Serves Warrants in DeKalb County
The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, the DeKalb County Police Department and the agencies that report for Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Chamblee, Decatur, Clarkston, Doraville and four more cities serve warrants in DeKalb County.
The FBI's agency list also places three other agencies, three campus police departments and one state police unit in DeKalb County (the arrest records guide names each one); each serves warrants on its own ground.
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.
A warrant issued in DeKalb County is good anywhere in Georgia, so it is served by whichever agency finds the person, in a traffic stop as often as at the door.
Together, the 11 agencies in DeKalb County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 9,241 arrests to the FBI that year; arrests on warrants are counted among them, not separately.
Each agency and what it reported is in DeKalb County arrest records.
Where a Person Arrested on a Warrant from DeKalb County Is Held
A person arrested on a warrant and kept in custody goes to the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest. The jail, run by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, held about 1,920 people on an average day so far in 2026 by the Vera Institute of Justice's count and has a custody page SearchSystems verified at dekalbsheriff.com. The DeKalb County inmate search guide covers the jail in full.
A person arrested in DeKalb County on a warrant from another county is held at the same jail until that county takes custody.
How to Check for a Warrant in DeKalb County
The places to check for a warrant from DeKalb County:
- The court file of the case, through the Clerk of Superior Court, since a warrant is recorded in the case it was issued in.
- The page of the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office SearchSystems verified at dekalbsheriff.com, which is a warrant or wanted list.
Not one of the DeKalb County pages SearchSystems verified (the court's and the records request page) is a list of open warrants, so a check means asking the court or the prosecutor about a case by name.
Clearing a Warrant from DeKalb County
Only the judge who issued a warrant can recall it. For a case from DeKalb County that means appearing before the DeKalb County Superior Court or the State Court and Magistrate Court, with the case put back on the calendar through the Clerk of Superior Court.
A missed date in a case before the State Court and Magistrate Court is handled by that court, not by the DeKalb County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I check for a warrant online in DeKalb County?
Not from the DeKalb County pages SearchSystems verified; none of them is a warrant list. The court file is the record of a warrant: ask the Clerk of Superior Court.
Who serves warrants in DeKalb County?
The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, and the agency that reports for the city where the person is found; a Georgia warrant is valid anywhere in the state.
Where is a person arrested on a warrant in DeKalb County held?
At the county jail, run by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, if kept in custody.
How is a warrant from DeKalb County cleared?
By appearing before the court that issued it; the judge recalls the warrant in court. The case is put back on the calendar through the Clerk of Superior Court.
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.