Access Peach County Police Records

Peach County police records are held by the Peach County Sheriff's Office in Fort Valley, Georgia. Sheriff Robert Shannon leads the department and oversees law enforcement across the county. The sheriff's office is the primary agency that keeps incident reports, arrest records, crash reports, and booking information for Peach County. Fort Valley also has its own police department that maintains separate records for incidents within the city. Byron has a police department as well. When you need a police record from Peach County, knowing which agency handled the incident tells you where to go.

Peach County Sheriff's Office

The Peach County Sheriff's Office mailing address is PO Box 510, Fort Valley, GA 31030. The phone number is (478) 825-8269. Sheriff Robert Shannon heads the department. The sheriff's office handles patrol, criminal investigations, and jail operations for the county. All records requests for sheriff's office files go through the administrative staff at the main office.

To get police records from the Peach County Sheriff's Office, you can visit in person, call, or send a written request. Written requests work best because they give you proof of what you asked for and when. Include the date of the incident, the names of people involved, the location, and the type of record you want. A case number speeds things up considerably. Peach County is a smaller county, and the records staff usually deals with a manageable volume of requests. Turnaround times tend to be reasonable, especially for simple single-report requests.

The Georgia Sheriffs' Association has a statewide directory listing Sheriff Shannon's office and all other county sheriffs across Georgia.

Check the directory to verify the address and contact details for the Peach County Sheriff's Office before making your request.

Open Records Requests in Peach County

Georgia's Open Records Act is the law that controls access to police records in Peach County. Under O.C.G.A. 50-18-70, all public records are open for inspection and copying by any person. Police records, arrest records, booking data, dispatch logs, and crash reports all fall under this law. You do not have to live in the county. You do not need to explain why you want the records.

The three-day response rule comes from O.C.G.A. 50-18-71. Peach County agencies must respond to your open records request within three business days. That response can be a simple acknowledgment that your request was received and what the estimated cost is. The actual records may take longer to prepare, especially if redactions are needed or the files are stored in an older system. In a smaller county like Peach, though, most straightforward requests get handled without much delay. Walking into the office and asking for a single report can sometimes get you the file the same day.

Fees for records are set by state law. Copies are $0.10 per page. Search and retrieval time is charged at the hourly rate of the lowest-paid employee who can do the work. The first 15 minutes are free. If the cost will be more than $25, the agency must tell you before they do the work. You can then decide to proceed or adjust your request to cut costs.

Peach County Incident Reports

Incident reports from Peach County document the events that deputies respond to across the county. These include thefts, assaults, domestic disputes, vandalism, fraud, drug offenses, and many other types of calls. Each report has a case number, the date and time of the incident, the location, the names of people involved, and a narrative section where the responding deputy writes out what happened and what actions were taken.

Initial incident reports are always public in Georgia. This is true even when the case is still being investigated. The Open Records Act makes this clear. You can get the initial report any time after it is filed. The investigation file, which includes detective notes, witness statements, and other follow-up documents, may be held back under O.C.G.A. 50-18-72 while the investigation is ongoing. But the basic report is always available. This is an important right to know about if you need to get information quickly for insurance claims or other time-sensitive matters.

Fort Valley State University also has a campus police department that handles incidents on university property. Those records are separate from the Peach County Sheriff's Office and should be requested through the university police directly.

Note: Fort Valley Police Department records must be requested from the city police, not the county sheriff's office.

Crash Reports for Peach County

Traffic crash reports from Peach County are available from whichever agency worked the scene. Sheriff's office crash reports can be requested at (478) 825-8269. The fee is typically $5. You can also try BuyCrash.com to download your report online if it has been uploaded to the LexisNexis system. Not every agency uses BuyCrash, but it is worth checking.

Georgia State Patrol reports from Peach County highways go through the EPORTS system. The cost is $5 per report. Submit your request with the date, location, and any other details you know about the crash. You will get an email when the report is ready. Then you log in, pay the fee, and download. The turnaround is usually about three business days. State troopers handle many of the crashes on Interstate 75, which runs through Peach County, so this is a resource you may need often.

If you were involved in the crash, no additional documentation is needed to get your report. Third parties not involved in the incident may need to provide a written statement explaining why they need the record before the agency will release it to them.

Criminal History and Background Checks

The Peach County Sheriff's Office handles local background checks using county arrest and booking records. For a statewide criminal history search, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation runs the Georgia Crime Information Center with records from all 159 Georgia counties. A GBI statewide check costs around $15 to $20 and gives you a much broader view of a person's criminal history than a single-county check.

Court records from the Peach County Clerk of Superior Court provide additional detail about criminal cases. These include filings, charges, case outcomes, and sentencing. Police records show the arrest. Court records show what happened in the legal process that followed. Looking at both gives you the full picture. The clerk's office is at the Peach County Courthouse in Fort Valley. Some records may be available online through the Georgia courts portal.

Note: Peach County borders Houston County, and people in the area sometimes have records in both jurisdictions, so a statewide check may be more useful than a local one.

What Peach County Records Are Available

Public police records from Peach County include initial incident reports, initial arrest reports, booking records and mug shots, 911 call logs, citations, and crash reports from closed cases. Internal affairs records become public 10 days after filing. Crime lab reports from closed cases are available too. Georgia law provides broad access, and most police records are open to the public.

Certain information gets redacted before records are released. Social Security numbers are always removed. Birth dates may be partially hidden. Home addresses and phone numbers of law enforcement officers can be withheld. Medical records and financial account numbers are also redacted. These protections exist to guard personal privacy while still allowing public access to the substance of the police record. The main details you need, such as names, charges, dates, and the narrative description of the incident, remain in the released version.

Nearby Counties

For police records from counties near Peach County, check these links.