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.
Ware County, Georgia, has about 36,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Ware County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and two campus, state or other 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 Ware 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: Ware County public records, Georgia arrest records, Georgia inmate search and Georgia criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Ware County
The Ware County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Ware County. It reported 1,140 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Ware County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Waycross, 13,671 residents: 813 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 these agencies in Ware County: the State Patrol at Waycross (state police); Coastal Pines Technical College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Ware 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.
- Ware County Sheriff's Office: 1,140 for 2025, 1,061 for 2024, 1,046 for 2023, 1,097 for 2022, 885 for 2021 and 916 for 2020.
- Waycross: 813 for 2025, 848 for 2024, 743 for 2023, 487 for 2022 and 585 for 2021.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,953 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,953 in 2025 against 1,909 in 2024, up 2.3 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 922 arrests, against 1,006 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ware County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Ware 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 410 people on an average day, down from about 440 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 510 beds, and it is running at 81 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 Ware County Sheriff's Office at waresheriff.com (page title: Ware County, Ga. Sheriff's Office), phone (912) 287-4326, 3487 Harris Road, Waycross, GA 31503, 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 Ware County
For Ware County the place to look is the case index of the Ware 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 warecountyga.gov/department-nodes/county-court-system (page title: County Court System-Ware County Government), phone (912) 490-4340, belongs to a lower court, not to the Ware 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 Ware 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 Ware County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (912) 287-4326.
- An arrest in Waycross: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol at Waycross or Coastal Pines Technical College: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Ware County Superior Court it is kept by the Clerk of Superior Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at warecountyga.gov, phone (912) 490-4340, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request through Georgia Applicant Processing Services.
Cities in Ware County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Waycross, the one city in Ware County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Ware County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ware County each year?
The Ware County Sheriff's Office reported 1,140 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,953 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ware County?
Ask the Ware County Sheriff's Office at (912) 287-4326; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at waresheriff.com.
Where are people arrested in Ware County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Ware County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ware 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 Ware County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ware 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 Ware 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.