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.
Terrell County, Georgia, has about 8,700 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Terrell 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 Terrell 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: Terrell County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Terrell County
The Terrell County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Terrell County.
The FBI lists one city in Terrell County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Dawson, 4,180 residents: 19 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 Dawson Reports
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.
- Dawson: 19 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 18 for 2023, 20 for 2022, 15 for 2021 and 52 for 2020.
Through June 2026, Dawson reported 6 arrests, against 8 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Terrell County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Terrell 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.
On an average day in 2025 the jail held about 30 people, down from about 32 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 50 beds, and it ran at 60 percent of it that year. 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 Terrell County
For Terrell County the place to look is the case index of the Terrell County Superior Court, kept by the Clerk of Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at terrellcountycourthouse.com/page1.html (page title: Superior Court Clerk's Office), phone 229-995-2631, belongs to a lower court, not to the Terrell 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 Terrell 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 Terrell County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Dawson: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Terrell County Superior Court it is kept by the Clerk of Superior Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at terrellcountycourthouse.com/page1.html, phone 229-995-2631, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Terrell County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the four cities in Terrell County: Dawson. Bronwood, Sasser and Parrott have 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 Terrell County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Terrell County each year?
Dawson reported 19 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Terrell County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Terrell County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Terrell 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 Terrell County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Terrell 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 Terrell 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.