Search Chatham County Bench Warrants

Chatham County bench warrants are issued by judges in the Savannah area when someone fails to appear in court or violates bond conditions. With a population around 295,000, Chatham County is one of the largest in Georgia and processes a high volume of court cases each year. Sheriff Richard Coleman oversees the office that serves and tracks bench warrants for the county. The sheriff's office in Savannah is where most bench warrant inquiries start. No public online search tool exists for active bench warrants in Chatham County. You can call or visit the sheriff's office to check on your warrant status, though showing up in person does carry the risk of arrest if a bench warrant is in your name.

Chatham County Sheriff's Office

Sheriff Richard Coleman runs the Chatham County Sheriff's Office out of Savannah. The office is responsible for serving all warrants issued by Chatham County courts, including bench warrants for failure to appear. When a judge signs a bench warrant, the sheriff's staff enter it into the county system and then push it to the Georgia Crime Information Center database. From there, it also goes into the national NCIC system. Any officer in the country can then see the active bench warrant during a stop or an arrest. The warrant stays in the system until the person is taken into custody or the court decides to recall it.

The Chatham County Sheriff's Office page on the county website has general info about the department and its services.

This page serves as the public entry point for anyone needing to contact the Chatham County Sheriff about warrants or other law enforcement matters in the Savannah area.

How to Search Chatham County Bench Warrants

There is no public online tool for searching outstanding bench warrants in Chatham County. The county does not make its active warrant list available on the internet. To find out if a bench warrant has been issued in your name, you need to contact the sheriff's office directly. Call 912-652-7600 and ask about the warrant division. You will need the full legal name and date of birth of the person you are asking about. Some staff may share basic info over the phone. Others will tell you to come in person.

If you go in person, bring a valid photo ID. The Georgia.gov warrant search guide spells out the process that applies in all Georgia counties, and Chatham County follows the same general steps. The big risk with an in-person visit is that officers can arrest you on the spot if they find an active bench warrant. Many people in Chatham County choose to hire a lawyer who can check on their behalf without that risk. An attorney can also file a motion to recall the bench warrant if there are good reasons the person missed court.

The Chatham County Clerk of Superior Court also keeps records of court cases and warrants. You can call or visit the clerk's office for case file details. The clerk handles the paperwork side, while the sheriff handles the enforcement side of bench warrants.

Note: Chatham County bench warrants do not expire and remain active in state and federal databases until resolved.

Bench Warrant Penalties in Chatham County

Skipping court in Chatham County leads to a bench warrant and extra charges. Georgia treats failure to appear as a separate crime. Under O.C.G.A. 16-10-51, bail jumping on a misdemeanor charge carries up to 12 months in jail and a $1,000 fine. If the case was a felony, the penalty goes up to one to five years in prison and fines up to $5,000. The penalties add on to whatever the original charge was. If someone leaves the state to dodge a Chatham County bench warrant, a misdemeanor case can be upgraded to a felony. That makes things much worse than just showing up to court would have been.

Traffic cases have separate rules. O.C.G.A. 40-13-63 says that willful failure to appear for a traffic citation is its own crime, punishable by a $200 fine or up to three days in jail. The court also reports the failure to appear to the Georgia Department of Driver Services. Under O.C.G.A. 40-5-56, DDS will suspend the person's driver's license. Getting the license back costs $100 at a DDS office or $125 by mail. That is on top of any fines from the traffic case itself.

Georgia law does give a short grace period in some traffic warrant cases. Under O.C.G.A. 17-6-11, the clerk of court has to send a notice letter and wait 30 days before the bench warrant takes full effect for certain traffic offenses. If the person takes care of the citation in that 30-day window, the court may not issue the bench warrant at all.

Chatham County Warrant Records Access

Bench warrant records in Chatham County are public under Georgia's Open Records Act. O.C.G.A. 50-18-70 gives anyone the right to request and copy records held by government agencies. Warrants that have been issued and served are open records. Warrants that have not been served yet may be restricted to protect the investigation and prevent the person from fleeing. You can file a records request with the Chatham County Clerk of Court or the sheriff's office.

Written requests work best. Include the person's name, case number if you know it, and the type of record you want. The law requires a response within three business days. Actual delivery of the records may take longer depending on the complexity of the request and the volume of work in the office.

Chatham County Bench Warrant Resources

Several state agencies and directories can help with bench warrant searches in the Chatham County area. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation oversees the GCIC database where all Chatham County bench warrants are logged at the state level. The GBI tip line at 1-800-597-8477 accepts information about fugitives with active warrants. The Georgia Sheriffs' Association directory lists every county sheriff including Chatham County with phone numbers and addresses.

The Georgia Courts sheriff directory is a state-run list that also has contact info for the Chatham County Sheriff. Both directories are useful if you need to verify the right number or address before making a call or visit about a bench warrant in the Savannah area.

Note: The GBI tip line is for reporting information about fugitives, not for checking your own bench warrant status.

Cities in Chatham County

Chatham County includes Savannah and several smaller cities. All bench warrants for cases filed in Chatham County courts are handled by the sheriff's office in Savannah, no matter which city you live in.

Nearby Counties

If your case was filed in a neighboring county, you need to contact that county's sheriff for bench warrant info. These counties border Chatham County.