Search Echols County Police Blotter

Echols County is the least populated county in Georgia, and its police blotter reflects a quieter pace of life near the Florida state line. Sheriff Randy Shirley and a small staff handle law enforcement for the entire county from Statenville. Every arrest, incident, and call for service gets logged into the Echols County police blotter. Despite the low volume of cases compared to larger counties, the same open records rules apply here. You can request blotter entries, arrest reports, and incident logs under the Georgia Open Records Act. The Sheriff's Office at 129 Highway 94 in Statenville is where all records for this county start and end. This guide covers how to get those records and what to expect from the process.

Echols County Police Blotter Office

Sheriff Randy Shirley runs the Echols County Sheriff's Office from 129 Highway 94, Statenville, GA 31648. This office is the sole law enforcement agency for the county. There is no separate city police department. Every police blotter entry in Echols County comes from this office. Deputies patrol the entire county and file reports on everything from property crimes to traffic incidents.

Because Echols County is so small, the volume of police blotter entries is lower than most Georgia counties. But the records are handled the same way. Each report gets filed, stored, and made available to the public through the open records process. To request a record, call (229) 559-5609 or send a written request to the office. Give a date, name, or case number so staff can locate the file quickly. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71, the office has three business days to produce records. In practice, Echols County often fills simple requests sooner than that because of the lower volume. Copy fees run up to 10 cents per page, and the first quarter hour of search time is free.

Echols County Police Blotter Records

The Georgia Open Records Act covers all public agencies, including the Echols County Sheriff's Office. O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 says that any document a government office creates or receives is a public record. That takes in arrest reports, incident logs, booking records, and dispatch data. All of these are part of the Echols County police blotter and subject to release.

Exceptions exist under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72. Active investigation files can be held back if releasing them would harm the case or endanger someone. In Echols County, this is rare given the low crime rate, but it can happen. The law also protects information about confidential sources and surveillance operations. Even when an exemption applies, the basic facts of an arrest are still public. The name, charge, date, and location are available from the moment someone is booked into the Echols County jail. You never have to tell the office why you want the records. The law does not require a reason.

State Resources for Echols County

State-level tools can help fill gaps when searching for police blotter data connected to Echols County. The Georgia DPS EPORTS system covers reports written by state troopers. If a Georgia State Patrol officer responded to a crash or incident on a state road in Echols County, that report lives in EPORTS. You can request it online for $2.00 for an incident report or $5.00 for a crash report.

The GBI Records Request Center handles requests for records from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI may get involved in cases in Echols County when the crime is serious or spans county lines. Their online portal lets you file a request from home. Criminal history records follow separate rules under O.C.G.A. § 35-3-34. Public access to those records is limited to Georgia felony convictions without the subject's consent.

The Georgia Sheriffs' Association maintains a directory of all 159 county sheriffs. You can verify Sheriff Shirley's contact details and look up neighboring offices through their site. This is useful when an incident near the Echols County border might have been handled by a different agency.

What Echols County Blotter Entries Show

A police blotter entry from Echols County starts with the basics. Date. Time. Location. Type of call. The responding deputy's name goes on the record along with the names of anyone involved. Arrests include the charges and booking info. This is the minimum you will find in every blotter entry.

Incident reports include more detail. The deputy writes a narrative describing what they found and what they did at the scene. Witness statements may be part of the file. Evidence logs go in too. In Echols County, where the caseload is light, these reports can be quite thorough because deputies have more time to document each call. Some information is redacted before release. Georgia law requires that phone numbers, the day and month of birth, and medical info be blacked out. The rest stays in the report and gives you a clear picture of what happened in Echols County.

Echols County Police Blotter Lookup

The Echols County jail is small. Call (229) 559-5609 to ask if someone is in custody. Staff can give you the charges and bond amount.

For people sentenced to state prison, the Georgia Department of Corrections offender search is the right tool. It shows photos, sentence details, and release dates for anyone in state custody. The database is free to use and does not require an account. It does not include people in the Echols County local jail, only state inmates. If someone was arrested in Echols County and later moved to a state facility, this is where you would track them down. The system updates regularly so the data is current.

Report Crime in Echols County

Emergencies go to 911. For everything else, call the Echols County Sheriff's Office at (229) 559-5609. Each call creates a dispatch log entry that goes into the police blotter. If you see something that concerns you, reporting it puts the information on record even if no arrest is made right away.

For serious crimes or tips you want to report anonymously, the GBI tip line is available at (800) 597-8477. Online submissions work too. Tips to the GBI can be anonymous, and they get routed to the right agency. In a small county like Echols, tips from residents often make a big difference. Deputies cannot be everywhere at once, and community input helps them focus their efforts. Your call adds to the Echols County police blotter and helps keep the area safe.

Note: You can remain anonymous when submitting tips through the GBI line.

Echols County Police Blotter Fees

Echols County follows the same fee rules as every other county in Georgia. O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71 sets the limits. Copies cost up to 10 cents per page. Search time is billed at the prorated hourly rate of the lowest paid worker who can fill the request, with the first quarter hour free. In Echols County, most police blotter requests cost very little because the reports tend to be short and easy to find.

The state DPS fee schedule gives you a baseline for what Georgia agencies charge. Local fees in Echols County follow the same general structure. If your request is going to cost more than a few dollars, ask for an estimate before they start. The office should be upfront about costs. Large requests are uncommon in Echols County, but if you need records spanning a long period, the fees can add up.

Cities in Echols County

Statenville is the county seat and the only real population center in Echols County. There are no incorporated cities with their own police department. All police blotter records for the entire county come from the Sheriff's Office. This makes the process simple since there is only one agency to contact for any incident in Echols County.

Nearby Counties

Echols County is in the far south of Georgia, near the Florida border. These neighboring counties have their own sheriff's offices and police blotter records.