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.
Dougherty County, Georgia, has about 82,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Dougherty County Sheriff's Office, one other county agency, one city agency 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 Dougherty 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: Dougherty County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Dougherty County
The Dougherty County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Dougherty County. It reported 38 arrests for 2025.
The Dougherty County Police Department also reports arrests to the FBI as another county agency of Dougherty County.
The FBI lists one city in Dougherty County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Albany, 66,705 residents: 1,283 arrests reported for 2025.
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 Dougherty County: the State Patrol at Albany (state police); Albany State University and Albany Technical College (campus police); Dougherty County Board of Education (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Dougherty 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.
- Albany: 1,283 for 2025, 1,604 for 2023, 1,098 for 2022, 960 for 2021 and 1,817 for 2020; 2024 is missing months.
- Dougherty County Police Department: 167 for 2025, 152 for 2024, 132 for 2023, 190 for 2022, 131 for 2021 and 145 for 2020.
- Dougherty County Sheriff's Office: 38 for 2025, 31 for 2024, 36 for 2023, 32 for 2022, 30 for 2021 and 29 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,488 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 205 in 2025 against 183 in 2024, up 12 percent.
Through June 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 779 arrests, against 722 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dougherty County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Dougherty 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 770 people on an average day, up from about 600 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 1,230 beds, and it is running at 63 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 Dougherty County Sheriff's Office at dougherty.ga.us/Government/Public-Safety/Sheriff%E2%80%99s-Office (page title: Sheriff’s Office Dougherty County, GA), phone 229-302-3600, 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 Dougherty County
For Dougherty County the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at dougherty.ga.us/Courts/District-Attorney, phone 229.431.3233).
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 Dougherty 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 Dougherty County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 229-302-3600.
- An arrest in Albany: 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 State Patrol at Albany, Albany State University or Dougherty County Board of Education: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 229.431.3233, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Dougherty County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Albany, the one city in Dougherty County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Dougherty County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Dougherty County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Albany (66,705)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dougherty County each year?
Albany reported 1,283 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,488 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Dougherty County?
Ask the Dougherty County Sheriff's Office at 229-302-3600; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dougherty.ga.us.
Where are people arrested in Dougherty County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dougherty County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dougherty 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 Dougherty County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dougherty 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 Dougherty 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.