Search Berrien County Busted Mugshots

Berrien County sits in south Georgia with Nashville as its county seat, and the Berrien County Sheriff's Office is the main agency for local arrest records and busted mugshots. If you need to find booking data, inmate status, or arrest records tied to the county, the sheriff's office is your first stop. This page covers where to search, what state law says about booking photos, and which statewide tools cover Berrien County records.

Berrien County Sheriff and Inmate Booking Records

The Berrien County Sheriff's Office in Nashville handles all local jail bookings. When someone is arrested in Berrien County, the booking process creates a record that includes the person's name, charges, arresting agency, and booking date. These records are public under Georgia's Open Records Act. The sheriff's office does not post mugshots on its own website, which is required by state law, but you can contact the office directly to request booking information.

The sheriff's office is located in Nashville, the county seat. Phone contact and in-person requests are the most direct ways to get current inmate data. Staff can confirm whether someone is in custody, share charge information, and guide you through the open records request process if you need certified documents. For basic custody status, a phone call often gets quick results.

Berrien County is a smaller rural county, so its jail holds fewer people than urban facilities. That said, the same state laws that govern large counties apply here. Booking records are public, arrest records are public, and the sheriff must respond to open records requests within three business days.

The screenshot below shows the Georgia Bureau of Investigation homepage, which oversees criminal record data statewide including records from Berrien County.

The GBI maintains criminal history records for all Georgia counties, including Berrien, through the Georgia Crime Information Center.

Find Berrien County Arrest Records Through State Databases

Even without a local online search portal, several statewide tools let you find Berrien County arrest records and related data. The Georgia Crime Information Center, known as GCIC and run by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, keeps criminal history records for every county in the state. You can request a background check through GCIC by contacting the GCIC division directly.

The Georgia Felon Search is another useful tool. It costs $15 and returns instant results for felony conviction records across the state. If you want to know whether someone has a felony on their record from an arrest in Berrien County or elsewhere in Georgia, this service gives you a fast answer. It is run through the official georgia.gov portal, so the data comes from state-maintained records.

The Georgia Department of Corrections offender search is free and shows photos. It covers people currently in state prison, not local jails. If someone was convicted in Berrien County and is serving a state sentence, they may appear in the GDC database. This is a different population than the local jail, but it fills in some gaps when you are trying to track down a complete record history.

The screenshot below shows the Georgia Department of Corrections offender search, a free tool that includes photos and covers state prison inmates.

The GDC database covers state prison inmates and is separate from the Berrien County local jail system, but it is useful for finding people serving sentences after a county conviction.

Georgia Law on Busted Mugshots and Booking Photos

Georgia has two laws that shape how busted mugshots work in Berrien County and across the state. The first is O.C.G.A. § 35-1-19, passed in 2014. This law bars law enforcement agencies from posting booking photos online. So the Berrien County Sheriff's Office cannot publish mugshots on its website, even though those photos are public records. If you want a specific booking photo, you have to submit a formal open records request.

The second law is O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.5, passed in 2013. This law covers third-party mugshot websites. If a site posted your photo, you can demand removal by certified mail. The site must take it down free of charge within 30 days. The Georgia Consumer Protection Division has step-by-step guidance on how to send the demand and what to include. This law applies to commercial mugshot sites, not to news organizations or government databases.

The Georgia Open Records Act, at O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70, sets the rules for formal requests. Agencies have three business days to respond. The first 15 minutes of search time is free, and the first 20 pages cost nothing. Pages after that run $0.10 each. These rules apply when you ask the Berrien County Sheriff for booking photos, arrest reports, or other jail records.

Knowing these laws helps you understand why mugshots are not always easy to find online and what your rights are if you need to remove a photo.

Berrien County Sex Offender Registry and GBI Resources

The Georgia Sex Offender Registry is a free, searchable tool run by the GBI. It covers registered offenders statewide and includes photos where available. You can search by name or by address to find offenders in or near Berrien County. This is a public resource maintained by the state, separate from the local jail database.

The GBI also handles statewide open records requests through its online portal. If you need records that go beyond what the Berrien County Sheriff can provide, the GBI portal is the right path. You can submit requests for GBI-held records, including state-level criminal history and investigative files, through this system. Response times and fees follow the same Open Records Act rules that apply to county agencies.

The screenshot below shows the Georgia Sex Offender Registry, which is searchable by name and covers Berrien County residents.

The registry is maintained by the GBI and updated regularly. It is one of the few state databases that shows photos for free without a formal records request.

Submitting an Open Records Request for Berrien County Booking Photos

If you want a certified copy of a Berrien County arrest record or a specific booking photo, an open records request is the right way to get it. Contact the Berrien County Sheriff's Office in Nashville and ask for their open records process. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70, the agency must respond within three business days. Include the subject's full name and, if you have it, the booking date or case number. That speeds up the search.

For statewide records held by the GBI, use the GBI open records portal. You can submit requests online and track their status. The GBI handles requests for criminal history, investigative records, and other state-level data. If the record you need involves a Berrien County case that went to state court or GDC, the GBI may have what you need.

Booking photos taken in Berrien County are public records under state law. The 2014 statute limits how they are posted online, but it does not make them private. News organizations have broader access rights, and private citizens can get photos through the formal request process. Plan for a small fee if your request takes more than 15 minutes to fulfill or produces more than 20 pages of documents.

The screenshot below shows the Georgia Consumer Protection Division page about mugshot websites and your rights under Georgia law.

Georgia law gives you the right to demand free removal from commercial mugshot sites within 30 days when the arrest qualifies for restriction.

Cities in Berrien County

No city in Berrien County currently meets the 25,000 population threshold for a dedicated busted mugshots page. For arrest records in Nashville, contact the Berrien County Sheriff's Office directly.

Nearby Counties

Berrien County borders several counties in south Georgia. Each has its own sheriff and arrest record resources.