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.
Lee County, Georgia, has about 34,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lee County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Lee 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: Lee County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lee County
The Lee County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lee County. It reported 413 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Lee County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Leesburg, 3,574 residents: 23 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lee 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.
- Lee County Sheriff's Office: 413 for 2025, 526 for 2024, 579 for 2023, 558 for 2022, 616 for 2021 and 519 for 2020.
- Leesburg: 23 for 2025, 12 for 2024, 20 for 2023, 14 for 2022, 16 for 2021 and 32 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 436 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 436 in 2025 against 538 in 2024, down 19 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 411 arrests, against 245 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lee County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lee 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 87 people on an average day, down from about 88 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 120 beds, and it is running at 72 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Georgia Department of Corrections lists its inmates at gdc.georgia.gov/offender-info/find-offender.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Lee County
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 Lee 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 Lee County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Leesburg: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at leecountyga.gov (page title: Open Records Requests | Lee County, Georgia).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Lee County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Lee County: Leesburg. Smithville has 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 Lee County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lee County each year?
The Lee County Sheriff's Office reported 413 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 436 between them.
Where are people arrested in Lee County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lee County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lee 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 Lee County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lee 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 leecountyga.gov.
Is this the official Lee 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.