Find Macon 24 Hour Booking

Macon 24 hour booking records are kept by the Bibb County Sheriff's Office and updated multiple times per day. Macon-Bibb County is a consolidated government, so one agency handles all arrests and bookings across the area. With a population of about 157,000, Macon is the fourth largest city in Georgia. The Bibb County Sheriff runs a public inmate search tool that lets you look up current booking records at any time.

Macon Arrest and 24 Hour Booking

When someone is arrested in Macon, they get taken to the Bibb County Jail. The jail is run by the Bibb County Sheriff's Office at 668 Oglethorpe Street. Booking happens 24 hours a day. Staff process each person as they come in. They record the charges, take fingerprints, and create the booking record. The Macon-Bibb County Police Department at 682 Cherry Street handles most arrests in the city, but the sheriff handles the jail and booking side.

The Macon-Bibb County Police Department is a separate agency from the sheriff. Police make arrests. The sheriff runs the jail. That is how it works in Macon. If you want info about an arrest or case, call the police at (478) 803-2500. If you want info about someone who is currently booked in jail, call the sheriff at (478) 751-7500. Both agencies are part of the same consolidated government.

Search Macon Inmate Records Online

The Bibb County Sheriff offers a free online inmate search. Go to bibbsheriff.us/isearch to look up anyone currently booked in the Macon jail. The jail roster updates multiple times a day, so results are pretty current. This is the fastest way to check on someone who was recently arrested in Macon.

You can search by full name, booking number, or date of arrest. The results show detailed information about each booking. Each record includes the person's full legal name, booking number, booking date, charges, bond amount, housing location within the jail, and release information if the person has been let go. This is more detail than many county jail searches in Georgia provide, which makes the Macon system one of the better ones in the state for public access.

There are limits to what shows up. Juvenile cases do not appear in the Macon inmate search. Sealed records are not shown. Expunged cases are gone from the system entirely. Under O.C.G.A. § 35-3-37, people with dismissed or nolle prossed charges can get their records restricted. Once that happens, the booking record disappears from the public database. So if you search for someone in Macon and find nothing, it could mean they were never booked there, or it could mean the record was restricted.

Note: The Bibb County jail roster refreshes several times daily, making it one of the more frequently updated systems in Georgia.

Macon Open Records Access

Georgia's Open Records Act gives you the right to access Macon booking records. O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 defines what counts as a public record, and booking data falls squarely in that definition. O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71 says agencies must respond to requests within three business days. The first 15 minutes of search time is free.

To get records that are not in the online system, you file a written request with the Bibb County Sheriff's Office or the Macon-Bibb County Police. Be specific about what you need. Include the full name of the person, approximate dates, and what type of records you want. Arrest reports are different from booking records. The arrest report comes from the police. The booking record comes from the jail. You might need both depending on what you are looking for in Macon.

O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72 lists the exemptions to the open records law. Initial arrest reports are explicitly listed as public. That is the good news. The exemptions deal more with ongoing investigations, informant identities, and certain security information. Standard Macon booking records are not exempt. You have a clear right to access them under Georgia law.

Macon State 24 Hour Booking Record Tools

State-level resources can supplement what you find in the Macon local system. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation keeps criminal history records for the entire state. If you need a record that goes beyond just Macon, the GBI is where to look. Their criminal history FAQ walks you through the process. Under O.C.G.A. § 35-3-34, you need signed consent from the person for a full criminal history, unless the search is for a felony conviction.

The Georgia Department of Corrections handles records for people in state prison. If someone from Macon was convicted and sent to a state facility, you can find them through the GDC offender query tool. This only covers state inmates, not people still in the Bibb County Jail. For fingerprint-based checks, use Georgia Applicant Processing Services which processes results in 24 to 48 hours.

The Governor's Office provides general guidance on open records requests in Georgia, including information relevant to Macon residents. The Department of Administrative Services sets records retention policies that affect how long Macon booking data is kept.

The GDC search is useful when you need to track someone who was arrested in Macon and later sentenced to state custody. County jail records and state prison records are two different systems.

Macon Booking Photo Rules

Booking photos in Macon follow the same rules as the rest of Georgia. O.C.G.A. § 35-1-18 says law enforcement cannot post booking photos online without a written affirmation. This is why the Bibb County inmate search might show you charges and dates but not always a mugshot. The law aims to protect people from having their photo spread around before they are convicted of anything.

If a Macon booking photo does end up on a third-party mugshot website, O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.5 gives the person a way to get it removed. They send a written request to the website, and the site has 30 days to take the photo down. The First Offender Act under O.C.G.A. § 42-8-60 can also lead to records being restricted if the person finishes their sentence under that program. These laws work together to give Macon residents some control over their booking information after the fact.

Bibb County 24 Hour Booking Records

All Macon bookings go through the Bibb County Sheriff's Office and jail. The consolidated Macon-Bibb County government means there is one system for the whole area. For the full county page with additional details, resources, and contact information, see below.

View Bibb County 24 Hour Booking

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