Find Worth County Police Records

Police records in Worth County are maintained by the Worth County Sheriff's Office in Sylvester, Georgia. Sheriff Don Whitaker runs the department and handles all county-level law enforcement operations. The sheriff's office keeps incident reports, arrest records, accident reports, and other police records for the county. Worth County sits in south-central Georgia, and the office on North Main Street is where most records requests start. Whether you need a single incident report or several records from the Worth County Sheriff's Office, the process follows the Georgia Open Records Act and the same basic steps used across the state.

Worth County Sheriff's Office Contact

The Worth County Sheriff's Office is on North Main Street in Sylvester and serves as the central office for police records in the county. Sheriff Don Whitaker leads the department. For any records request, from a single incident report to an arrest record or accident report, this is the office to contact. The staff can check what is on file and guide you through the process. Be ready with specific details when you call or visit. A date, a name, and a case number all help them locate the right file quickly.

Calling is the fastest way to start a records request. The non-emergency number above connects you to the sheriff's office during business hours. Walk-in requests are fine too. Bring ID and a clear description of what you need. The office is in Room 14 of the building at 201 North Main Street. For emergencies, always call 911. The general number is for records, case inquiries, and other non-emergency business.

Note: Worth County does not appear to have an online records portal, so phone, mail, and in-person visits are the standard ways to request police records from this office.

How to Request Worth County Police Records

The Georgia Open Records Act at O.C.G.A. 50-18-70 guarantees public access to records held by government agencies. The Worth County Sheriff's Office is covered by this law. You do not need to live in Worth County or in Georgia to make a request. The law does not require you to explain why you want the records. It is your right as a member of the public, and the sheriff's office has a legal duty to provide access to police records unless a specific exemption applies.

There are three main ways to request police records from Worth County. You can call (229) 776-8211. You can send a written request to 201 North Main Street, Room 14, Sylvester, GA 31791. Or you can go to the office in person. Written requests are the strongest approach because they give you a record of exactly what you asked for and when. If the office takes too long or there is a disagreement about your request, a written letter is your proof. Keep it short and direct. Your name, contact information, and a description of the records you need. The more specific you are about the date, the people involved, and the type of report, the faster the office can respond.

In-person requests work well if you are in the Sylvester area. Go to the sheriff's office, ask at the front desk, and staff will look up your records. You may be able to get copies on the spot for small requests. Larger requests might take a few days to prepare. Either way, the staff can give you a cost estimate and a timeline before they start pulling files.

Worth County Records Response Times

Under O.C.G.A. 50-18-71, the Worth County Sheriff's Office has three business days to respond after receiving your records request. The response can be the records themselves, a cost estimate, or a notice about when the records will be ready. For simple requests, like a single incident report or arrest record, the turnaround is usually fast. More involved requests that cover multiple files or a wide date range take longer because the staff has to gather and review everything before releasing it.

If you have not heard back from the Worth County Sheriff's Office within three business days, give them a call. A follow-up is usually enough to get things moving. Smaller offices manage many tasks with limited staff, and a polite reminder helps. If the office still does not respond or refuses your request without a proper legal basis, O.C.G.A. 50-18-73 allows you to file suit in superior court. A judge can order the records released and may award attorney fees if the agency broke the law. That step is rarely needed, but Georgia law provides it as a safeguard for the public's right to access police records.

Types of Records Available in Worth County

The Worth County Sheriff's Office keeps the standard types of police records found across Georgia. Incident reports cover crimes, disturbances, and calls for service. Arrest records document bookings, charges, and personal details collected during processing. Accident reports record vehicle crashes that happened in the county. Citation records track traffic stops and violations by deputies.

Georgia law at O.C.G.A. 50-18-72 makes initial incident reports and initial arrest reports available to the public at all times. Even if a case is still under active investigation, the initial report must be released when someone asks. The investigation file beyond that first report can be withheld until the case closes, but the first document is always public. This rule is a cornerstone of the Georgia Open Records Act, and it applies to every police record held by the Worth County Sheriff's Office in Sylvester.

Accident reports follow separate rules. If you were a party to the crash, you can get the report without any extra requirements. Third parties who were not involved may need to submit a written statement explaining their need for the report. These rules balance public access with the privacy of crash victims. The Worth County Sheriff's Office applies the same standards as any other Georgia county when releasing accident reports from their files.

State Patrol reports through EPORTS cost $5 each and are typically processed within a few business days.

Worth County Police Records Fees

Fees for police records from the Worth County Sheriff's Office follow Georgia's statewide standard under the Open Records Act. Copies are $0.10 per page. The first 15 minutes of search and retrieval time are free. After that, the office charges an hourly rate based on the wage of the lowest-paid staff member who can handle the request. If the total cost will exceed $25, the office must tell you before they begin. You can then decide to proceed, adjust your request to reduce the cost, or cancel the request entirely.

Crash reports filed by the Georgia State Patrol cost $5 each through the EPORTS system. If a Worth County deputy filed the accident report instead, the fee may differ. Ask the sheriff's office about the specific charge for locally filed crash reports. Payment methods vary at county offices, so check ahead of time what they accept. Cash is usually safe, but some offices also take checks or money orders.

Note: For most requests involving one or two reports, the total cost at the Worth County Sheriff's Office is minimal since search time under 15 minutes is free.

State-Level Resources for Worth County

Some police records tied to Worth County are held by state agencies rather than the sheriff's office. The Georgia Department of Public Safety operates the EPORTS portal where you can request crash reports, incident reports, and citations from the Georgia State Patrol. If a trooper handled an incident in Worth County, the records are in the state system. The DPS Open Records Unit can be reached at openrecords@gsp.net or (404) 624-7591 for records not available through the website.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation holds records for cases where the GBI assisted local agencies. If the GBI was called to help with a Worth County case, their records are separate from the sheriff's files and must be requested directly from the GBI. The Georgia Sheriffs' Association maintains a directory of all 159 county sheriffs, which is useful for confirming contact details for Worth County or any neighboring county you need to reach. Checking both local and state sources gives you the best chance of finding the police records you need.

Nearby County Police Records

Worth County borders several counties in south-central Georgia. If the incident you are researching happened near a county line, the responding agency could have been from a neighboring jurisdiction. It helps to confirm which county the location falls in before submitting your records request. Here are the counties that border Worth County.