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.
Effingham County, Georgia, has about 73,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Effingham County Sheriff's Office and three city 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 Effingham 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: Effingham County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Effingham County
The Effingham County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Effingham County. It reported 520 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Effingham County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Rincon, 11,701 residents: 163 arrests reported for 2025.
- Springfield, 3,223 residents: 48 arrests reported for 2025.
- Guyton, 3,059 residents: 14 arrests reported for 2022.
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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Effingham 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.
- Effingham County Sheriff's Office: 520 for 2025, 441 for 2024, 532 for 2023, 336 for 2022, 474 for 2021 and 420 for 2020.
- Rincon: 163 for 2025, 150 for 2024, 152 for 2023, 138 for 2022, 204 for 2021 and 160 for 2020.
- Springfield: 48 for 2025, 31 for 2024, 25 for 2023, 12 for 2021, 14 for 2020 and 161 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Guyton: 14 for 2022 and 9 for 2021.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 731 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 731 in 2025 against 622 in 2024, up 18 percent.
Guyton reported only part of 2025 (1 month) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Effingham County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Effingham 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 170 people on an average day, down from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 268 beds, and it is running at 62 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 Effingham County Sheriff's Office at effinghamsheriff.org/156/Jail (page title: Jail | Effingham County, GA), phone 912-754-3449, 502 W First Street Springfield, GA 31329, 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 Effingham County
Whether someone was arrested in Effingham County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Effingham County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at effinghamclerk.org/case-management, phone (912) 754-2118); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at pacga.org/find-your-prosecutor/county/effingham, phone 912-764-9924).
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 Effingham 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 Effingham County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 912-754-3449.
- An arrest in Rincon, Springfield or Guyton: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 912-764-9924, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Effingham County Superior Court, through the court records page at effinghamclerk.org/case-management, phone (912) 754-2118.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at effinghamcounty.org/505/Open-Records-Request (page title: Open Records Request | Effingham County, GA).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Effingham County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the three cities in Effingham County: Rincon, Springfield and Guyton.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Effingham County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Effingham County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Rincon (11,701)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Effingham County each year?
The Effingham County Sheriff's Office reported 520 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 731 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Effingham County?
Ask the Effingham County Sheriff's Office at 912-754-3449; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at effinghamsheriff.org/156/Jail.
Where are people arrested in Effingham County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Effingham County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Effingham 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 Effingham County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Effingham 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 effinghamcounty.org/505/Open-Records-Request.
Is this the official Effingham 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.