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.
Towns County, Georgia, has about 13,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Towns County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one campus 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 Towns 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: Towns County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Towns County
The Towns County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Towns County. It reported 207 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year.
One city in Towns County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Hiawassee, 1,046 residents: 14 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 Towns County: Young Harris College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Hiawassee 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.
- Hiawassee: 14 for 2025, 22 for 2021, 28 for 2020 and 36 for 2019; 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Towns County Sheriff's Office: 207 for 2023, 206 for 2022, 150 for 2021 and 340 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Through July 2026, Hiawassee reported 5 arrests, against 7 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Towns County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Towns 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 27 people on an average day, down from about 43 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 67 beds, and it is running at 40 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 Towns County Sheriff's Office at townscountyga.org/sheriff.html (page title: Sheriff), phone 706-896-4444, MONDAY-FRIDAY 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM, 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 Towns County
Whether someone was arrested in Towns County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Towns County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at georgiacourts.gov/eaccess-court-records); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at townscountyga.org/district-attorney.html, phone 706-896-6489).
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 Towns 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 Towns County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 706-896-4444.
- An arrest in Hiawassee: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Young Harris College: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 706-896-6489, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Towns County Superior Court, through the court records page at georgiacourts.gov/eaccess-court-records.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Towns County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Towns County: Hiawassee. Young Harris 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 Towns County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Towns County each year?
Hiawassee reported 14 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Towns County?
Ask the Towns County Sheriff's Office at 706-896-4444; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at townscountyga.org/sheriff.html.
Where are people arrested in Towns County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Towns County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Towns 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 Towns County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Towns 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 Towns 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.