Tattnall County Police Records Lookup

Tattnall County police records are maintained by the Tattnall County Sheriff's Office in Reidsville, Georgia. The sheriff's office covers law enforcement for unincorporated areas of the county and stores incident reports, arrest logs, crash reports, and jail records. Tattnall County is located in southeast Georgia and is home to the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, one of the state's oldest correctional facilities. The county has a mix of agricultural land and small communities, and the sheriff's office handles a steady volume of calls across its jurisdiction. Police records are available to the public through the Georgia Open Records Act.

Tattnall County Sheriff's Office

Sheriff Kyle Sapp heads the Tattnall County Sheriff's Office. The mailing address is PO Box 545, Reidsville, GA 30453. The office phone number is (912) 557-6777. Business hours are Monday through Friday, and staff handle records requests along with general inquiries about cases and jail information.

The Reidsville Police Department covers calls inside Reidsville city limits. If the incident you need records for happened within the city, contact the city police. The sheriff's office handles everything outside city limits. Glennville, another town in Tattnall County, has its own police department as well. Knowing which agency responded to your incident is the first thing to figure out.

The sheriff's office also manages the Tattnall County jail. Booking records, bond information, and current inmate details are available through the jail division. These records fall under the same public access rules as other law enforcement files in the county.

How to Request Tattnall County Records

Georgia's Open Records Act under O.C.G.A. 50-18-70 gives anyone the right to request police records from the Tattnall County Sheriff's Office. You do not need to live in the county. You do not need a reason. The law applies equally to all requesters. Start by identifying the record you need. A case number is ideal. Without one, give dates, names, and details about the incident.

You can make your request in person at the office in Reidsville, by phone, or by mail. Written requests create a useful paper trail. They show when the request was made and what was asked for. This matters because the sheriff's office has three business days to respond under the law. The clock starts when they receive the request.

Copies cost $0.10 per page. Search time is free for the first 15 minutes. After that, the office may charge based on the hourly rate of the staff member doing the work. If your request will cost more than $25 total, they have to let you know beforehand. You can then choose to go ahead or narrow your request to bring the cost down.

Types of Tattnall County Police Records

The sheriff's office keeps several types of records on file. Incident reports cover calls for service. These include thefts, assaults, break-ins, vandalism, and other criminal complaints. Each report has a narrative from the responding deputy, dates, times, and names of everyone involved.

Arrest records document who was taken into custody. They include the person's name, the charges, the date of arrest, and bond information. Under O.C.G.A. 50-18-72, initial incident reports and initial arrest records are always public. Even if a case is under active investigation, the initial report is open to anyone who asks for it.

Crash reports from the sheriff's office document traffic accidents on county roads. The Georgia State Patrol handles accidents on state highways through the area. State Patrol reports go into the EPORTS system and are separate from local files. If you are looking for a report from a highway accident in Tattnall County, check EPORTS first.

Note: Tattnall County has multiple law enforcement agencies, so always confirm which one handled your incident before requesting records.

State Resources for Tattnall County

The Georgia Sheriffs' Association keeps a directory of all county sheriffs in Georgia with current contact details and office addresses.

This is a quick way to verify the phone number and mailing address for the Tattnall County Sheriff's Office or any neighboring county.

The Georgia DPS EPORTS portal handles crash reports written by the Georgia State Patrol. If a trooper responded to an accident on a state route or highway in Tattnall County, the report goes into EPORTS. Reports cost $5 each and are searchable by date, county, or driver name. This is separate from crash reports kept at the local sheriff's office.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation manages records for cases where GBI agents assisted Tattnall County law enforcement. The BuyCrash platform offers another way to search for Georgia crash reports online. The Georgia Department of Corrections website also has information about inmates at the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, though those are state correctional records, not local police records.

Tattnall County Accident Reports

Traffic crashes in Tattnall County are covered by different agencies depending on where they happen. Inside Reidsville or Glennville, city police handle the scene. On county roads, the sheriff's office responds. On state highways, the Georgia State Patrol takes the call. Each agency files its own report and keeps it in its own system.

To get a crash report from the sheriff's office, follow the open records process. Call or visit with the accident date, location, and driver names. The responding deputy should have given you a case number at the scene. That number speeds up the search. For State Patrol reports, go to the EPORTS website where reports become available within about a week of the accident.

Georgia law requires crash reports to be filed within 24 hours. But it often takes several business days before copies are ready for the public. Give it three to five business days before making your request, and you will likely avoid being told the report is not yet in the system.

Open Records Denials

Most requests for basic police records go through without a problem. The Open Records Act is broad and covers nearly everything. But there are times when part of a record may be withheld. Active investigations are the most common reason. If releasing information could hurt an ongoing case, the sheriff's office can hold back parts of the file. The initial report still has to be released.

If your request is denied, the office must tell you why in writing. They have to point to a specific legal exemption. If you think the denial is wrong, you can take the matter to Tattnall County Superior Court under O.C.G.A. 50-18-71. The court can order the records released and may award attorney fees if the denial was made in bad faith. Most people never get to this point because basic records requests rarely face pushback.

Nearby County Police Records

Tattnall County shares borders with several other southeast Georgia counties. If an incident took place near a county line, the report might be in a different county's system.