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. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site on September 23, 2026.
Lanier County, Georgia, has about 10,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lanier County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one other agency. 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 Lanier 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: Lanier County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lanier County
The Lanier County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lanier County. It reported 314 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Lanier County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Lakeland, 3,032 residents: 24 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 one more agency in Lanier County: Lanier County Board of Education (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lanier 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.
- Lanier County Sheriff's Office: 314 for 2025, 347 for 2024, 390 for 2023, 252 for 2022, 254 for 2021 and 183 for 2020.
- Lakeland: 24 for 2025 and 28 for 2021; 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 338 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 314 in 2025 against 347 in 2024, down 9.5 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 236 arrests, against 176 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lanier County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lanier 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.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Lanier County Sheriff's Office at laniercountysheriff.com (page title: Welcome and EMERGENCY NOTICE | Lanier County Sheriff's Office, Lakeland Georgia), phone 229-482-3545, 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 Lanier County
Whether someone was arrested in Lanier County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Lanier County Superior Court, kept by the Clerk of Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at pacga.org/find-your-prosecutor/county/lanier, phone 229-686-7015).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at cjcc.georgia.gov/locations/lanier-county-courthouse (page title: Lanier County Courthouse | Criminal Justice Coordinating Council), belongs to a lower court, not to the Lanier County Superior Court.
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 Lanier 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 Lanier County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 229-482-3545.
- An arrest in Lakeland: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Lanier 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, 229-686-7015, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Lanier County Superior Court it is kept by the Clerk of Superior Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at cjcc.georgia.gov, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lanierprobatecourt.gov (page title: Court Records Requests & Access | Lanier County Courts).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Lanier County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Lakeland, the one city in Lanier County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Lanier County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lanier County each year?
The Lanier County Sheriff's Office reported 314 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 338 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lanier County?
Ask the Lanier County Sheriff's Office at 229-482-3545; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at laniercountysheriff.com.
Where are people arrested in Lanier County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lanier County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lanier 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 Lanier County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lanier 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 lanierprobatecourt.gov.
Is this the official Lanier 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.