Carroll County Police Records Search

Carroll County police records are maintained by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office in Carrollton. The sheriff's office serves as the main county-level law enforcement agency and keeps incident reports, arrest records, crash reports, and booking data. Carroll County is located west of Atlanta and has grown steadily over the years, making it one of the more active counties in west Georgia for law enforcement. The public can request police records from the sheriff's office through the Georgia Open Records Act, which covers all county agencies in the state.

Carroll County Sheriff's Office Information

Sheriff Terry Langley runs the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. The department is located at 1000 Newnan Road in Carrollton. The phone number is (770) 830-5915. The office handles patrol, criminal investigations, the county jail, and court security. Records requests are processed by the administrative staff. You can walk in, call, or send a written request. The office is open on weekdays during standard business hours. For emergencies, call 911. For records questions, use the main line.

Carroll County has several municipalities with their own police forces. Carrollton has its own police department, as do the smaller towns of Villa Rica, Bowdon, and Mount Zion. If the incident happened inside a city's limits, that city's police department is the one with the report. The sheriff's office covers everything in the unincorporated areas. With multiple agencies in the county, figuring out which one responded to your call is always the first step when requesting police records in Carroll County.

Note: The University of West Georgia in Carrollton also has a campus police department that handles incidents on university property.

How to Request Carroll County Police Records

Start by contacting the Carroll County Sheriff's Office with details about the record you need. Under O.C.G.A. 50-18-70, you have the right to inspect and copy police records held by the county. A case number will get you to the right file fast. If you don't have one, a date and the names of people involved will work. Tell the staff what kind of report you want, whether it is an incident report, an arrest record, or a crash report. The more detail you provide, the quicker the search goes.

Written requests are the smart move. They document everything. You can hand deliver a letter to the Newnan Road office or mail it in. Include your full name, phone number, and a description of the records you are after. The Carroll County Sheriff's Office has three business days to respond under O.C.G.A. 50-18-71. The response may be the actual records, a cost estimate, or a timeline for when the records will be available. Complex requests involving multiple files or a long date range take more time to process.

Fees are straightforward. Copies cost $0.10 per page. Search time is free for the first 15 minutes. After that, the agency can bill based on the hourly rate of the lowest-paid employee who can do the work. If total fees will top $25, you get a heads-up before the office proceeds. This gives you a chance to narrow your request if the cost is more than you want to pay.

Police Report Types in Carroll County

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office maintains several kinds of police records. Incident reports document calls for service. These include thefts, burglaries, assaults, domestic disputes, and other criminal matters. Each one has a case number, date and time, location, officer narrative, and the names of people involved. Arrest records track who was brought into the Carroll County jail, the charges filed, bond amounts, and court dates.

Under Georgia law, specifically O.C.G.A. 50-18-72, initial incident and arrest reports are public. This is true even when a case is being actively investigated. The sheriff's office can hold back parts of an ongoing investigation file if releasing them could harm the case. But the initial report itself is always available. Personal details like Social Security numbers are redacted before records are handed over. The law tries to balance the public's right to know with the need to protect sensitive data.

Vehicle accident reports from Carroll County deputies are kept at the sheriff's office. Crashes handled by the Georgia State Patrol go into the EPORTS system instead. Carroll County has several state routes running through it, so the State Patrol is active in the area. If you are not sure who handled a specific crash, call the sheriff's office and they can tell you whether the report is theirs or the State Patrol's.

Note: Carroll County's multiple city police departments each keep their own records separate from the sheriff's office.

State and Online Resources for Carroll County

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

Crash reports from state troopers cost $5 each and can be searched by date, location, or name. For state highway accidents in Carroll County, this is often the right source.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation handles open records for cases where the GBI was involved in Carroll County. Major crimes or cases where local agencies request state help may result in GBI records that are separate from the sheriff's office files. The Georgia Sheriffs' Association directory has contact details for all Georgia sheriffs, including Carroll County.

The BuyCrash portal from LexisNexis is another avenue for crash reports. Participation varies by agency, but some Carroll County reports may show up in this system. It is a useful backup when other sources do not have what you need.

Carroll County Open Records Process

The Georgia Open Records Act applies to every government agency in the state, and the Carroll County Sheriff's Office is no exception. You can request to see and copy records at any time during business hours. If you want to just look at the files, inspection is free. You only pay when you ask for copies. The process is designed to be accessible. You do not need a lawyer. You do not need to explain why you want the records. The law gives you the right to access them, period.

If the sheriff's office denies your request, they must tell you why in writing. You can challenge a denial in superior court under O.C.G.A. 50-18-73. A judge can order the records released and may make the county pay your legal costs if the court finds the denial was improper. Most situations get resolved well before that point. A clear, specific request and a polite follow-up usually get things moving in the right direction. Carroll County processes a solid number of records requests each year, and the staff is used to handling them efficiently.

Nearby County Police Records

Carroll County borders several counties in west Georgia. If an incident happened near the county line, the report might belong to a neighboring sheriff's office. Check the links below for police records in surrounding counties.