Burke County Police Records

Police records in Burke County are maintained by the Burke County Sheriff's Office in Waynesboro. The sheriff's office is the central law enforcement agency for the county and stores incident reports, arrest records, accident reports, and booking data. Burke County is one of the largest counties in Georgia by land area, and the sheriff's office covers a wide territory. Requests for police records are handled through the Georgia Open Records Act, which gives the public the right to inspect and copy most law enforcement documents held by the county.

Burke County Sheriff's Office Details

Sheriff Alfonzo Williams leads the Burke County Sheriff's Office. The office handles all law enforcement duties for the unincorporated parts of the county, plus jail operations and court security. Police records requests go through the sheriff's administrative staff. You can call, write, or visit in person to start a request. The mailing address is PO Box 702, Waynesboro, GA 30830, and the phone number is (706) 554-2133.

The Waynesboro Police Department covers incidents inside the city limits, so if the event you are looking into happened in town, you may need to contact city police instead. Burke County is large, and the sheriff's deputies patrol a wide area from the Savannah River border down through rural farmland. Each responding agency keeps its own set of police records, so knowing which one handled the call is key.

Note: Burke County is one of Georgia's largest counties by area, so response jurisdiction can vary depending on which part of the county the incident occurred in.

Getting Police Records in Burke County

The process for getting police records in Burke County follows Georgia state law. You file a request with the Burke County Sheriff's Office, and they have three business days to respond under O.C.G.A. 50-18-71. The response may include the records right away, or it may be a letter explaining when you can expect them. Simple requests like a single incident report or arrest record often come back within days. Larger requests take longer because staff has to pull and review more files.

Put your request in writing when possible. Include your full name, phone number, and the details of what you are looking for. A case number is the fastest way to find a record. If you don't have one, give a date, a location, and the names of people involved. The more specific you are, the quicker things go. Broad requests for "all records" over a long time period tend to cost more and take more time because staff has to search through more data.

Walk-in requests are handled at the Waynesboro office during business hours. Bring a form of ID and be ready to pay for copies at the time of pickup. You can also mail your request to the PO Box address listed above. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you want copies mailed back to you.

Burke County Police Report Types

The Burke County Sheriff's Office keeps several kinds of police records. Incident reports document calls for service, from break-ins and thefts to assaults and domestic disputes. Each report has a unique case number, the date and time, and a written account from the deputy who responded. Arrest records track people taken into custody and include the charges filed, bond details, and booking information.

Under O.C.G.A. 50-18-72, initial incident and arrest reports are public records even when a case is still open. The sheriff's office may withhold portions of an investigation file if releasing them would compromise an active case. But the initial report itself is always available to the public. When you request a record, the staff will let you know if any sections have been redacted and why.

Crash reports filed by Burke County deputies are also kept at the sheriff's office. Vehicle accident reports from state troopers go into a different system. If a Georgia State Patrol trooper handled the crash, you need to use the state EPORTS portal to get that report instead of contacting the sheriff's office.

Note: If you are unsure which agency handled a crash in Burke County, call the sheriff's office first and they can point you in the right direction.

Fees for Burke County Police Records

Georgia law controls how much agencies can charge. Copies are $0.10 per page. Search time beyond the first 15 minutes can be billed at the hourly rate of the lowest-paid employee who can do the work. This standard applies across all Georgia counties, including Burke. If the total estimated cost goes over $25, the office must tell you before proceeding so you can decide whether to move forward or narrow the scope of what you asked for.

Inspecting records in person is free. You can go to the Burke County Sheriff's Office and look at the files without paying a cent. You just can't take them with you unless you pay for copies. Some people prefer this approach if they only need to check a few details from a report. It keeps costs at zero and gets you the info you need on the spot. The office has to make the records available for inspection within a reasonable time, as outlined under O.C.G.A. 50-18-70.

State Resources for Burke County Records

The Georgia DPS EPORTS system at eports.gamccd.net handles crash reports filed by the State Patrol in Burke County.

Crash reports from state troopers who responded to accidents in Burke County are available through this online portal. The cost is $5 per report, and you can search by date or location.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation handles its own open records process. If the GBI investigated a case in Burke County, those records come from the GBI directly rather than the sheriff. The Georgia Sheriffs' Association maintains a current directory of all sheriff's offices in the state, which can be helpful if you need to verify contact info for Burke County or a neighboring office. The BuyCrash system from LexisNexis is another option for finding crash reports filed by participating agencies in Georgia.

Nearby County Police Records

Burke County shares borders with several counties in east-central Georgia. If a case happened near the county line, the report may be in a neighboring county's files. Check with the right office to find what you need.