Active Warrants in Chatham County
Warrants in Chatham County come out of more than one court. Magistrate Court hears warrant applications and signs most arrest warrants. The Magistrate fee schedule lists a $20 warrant application fee and a $20 good behavior bond fee. State Court, Superior Court, Recorder's Court, and probation can each cause a warrant or hold to be entered against a person. The Chatham County Magistrate Court sits in the Coleman Courthouse and Chief Magistrate Mary Kathryn Moss has led the bench since January 2005.
The captured official Chatham Sheriff's pages do not host a searchable active warrant list. There is no single county portal that takes a name, returns every open warrant, and confirms it. The Sheriff posts 24-hour and 72-hour booking lists for people already arrested. The court system posts case proceedings by date and links out to re:Search Georgia for case files. Together, those tools cover most of what a member of the public can confirm without calling the Sheriff or the issuing clerk.
How to Check for a Chatham County Warrant
Start with the court that would have heard the case. Recorder's Court traffic and ordinance citations are a common source of bench warrants. State Court covers misdemeanors. Superior Court covers felonies. Magistrate covers warrant applications, dispossessories, and small claims. Probation officers can request bench warrants through the supervising court when conditions are missed. If you do not know which court is involved, start with the case lookup at re:Search Georgia and search by name.
- Open the Chatham County Court System homepage and use the Court Proceedings date search to look for upcoming hearings tied to the name.
- Click the Case Lookup link to re:Search Georgia and search the underlying case by party name or case number.
- Check the 24-hour booking list and the 72-hour booking list in case the person has already been picked up.
- For Recorder's Court matters, check the Recorder's Court online payments portal for the citation and outstanding amount.
- Call the issuing court's clerk or the Sheriff's Front Lobby at (912) 652-7785 to confirm whether an active order exists.
You can see the Magistrate Court judges page that documents the bench responsible for most arrest warrants at the Magistrate Court judges page.
The judges page is helpful when a clerk asks which Magistrate signed the warrant or when an attorney needs to know who heard the application.
Chatham County Warrant Search Fields
Because the county does not run a single active-warrant portal, the search fields a person can use are spread across several tools. The table lists what is actually available in captured official sources, what each field does, and where each lives.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Options / Format Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active warrant search | n/a | n/a | No official Chatham active warrant search portal located in captured sources. |
| Case Lookup / re:Search | text search | optional | Search the underlying court case by name or case number where public. |
| Sheriff's phone verification | phone | n/a | Use the Sheriff's Front Lobby, Booking, or Shift Commander numbers for custody and booking questions. |
| Magistrate warrant application | form / process | yes for applicants | Filing fee is $20. Specific form fields are listed on the Magistrate forms page. |
The Magistrate forms page hosts the actual paper packets used for warrant applications, dispossessory cases, garnishments, and records requests.
Anyone applying for a warrant or trying to figure out which form a clerk needs can pull the right packet here before walking into the courthouse.
Types of Chatham County Warrants
Not every warrant looks the same. Different orders carry different rules for arrest, bond, and how the public can see them. The booking lists, case dockets, and Recorder's Court notices in Chatham give a fair picture of what shows up most often.
- Arrest warrant — signed order that lets law enforcement take a named person into custody on a charge.
- Bench warrant — issued by a judge when a person fails to appear, is in contempt, or misses a probation requirement.
- Search warrant — authorizes officers to search a place or seize items. Not posted as a public active list before execution.
- Probation warrant — tied to probation violations under O.C.G.A. 42-8-38 and visible in booking entries.
- Contempt order — booking entries under O.C.G.A. 16-1-4 and Recorder's Court contempt notices show up here.
- State custody hold — booking list entries marked as state custody hold reflect a state-level order.
- Fugitive / out-of-county hold — possible in local records, though not separately published in captured sources.
What a Chatham County Warrant Record Shows
Because no public active-warrant portal exists for Chatham, the closest field-level view of a warrant is the Sheriff's booking entry once the person has been arrested on the order. The table below summarizes what those booking entries display, plus what a related court docket may add.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| DIN | Detention identifier assigned by the jail; sample formats include P2605294 and X0043454. |
| Name | Last, First Middle as printed on the booking record. |
| Birth Date | Date of birth in MM/DD/YYYY format. |
| Race / Sex | Single-letter race code and M or F sex code. |
| Arrest Date | Date the person was taken into custody on the warrant. |
| Arrest # | Numeric arrest number tied to the booking. |
| Agency | Holding or arresting agency, such as Savannah PD, Chatham SO, or a court. |
| Bond | Bond amount; can be $0.00 when no bond is set, a hold is in place, or a state custody flag applies. |
| Charges | Georgia statute code, short description, and F or M classification. |
| Case Number | From the related court docket on re:Search Georgia. |
| Courtroom / Judge | From the proceedings list once a hearing is scheduled. |
| Type / Event | From the docket: motion, hearing, arraignment, bench warrant, plea. |
The booking list does not show housing pod, projected release date, height, weight, or eye color. It does not include a mugshot because HB 845 restricts publication of booking photos online.
What to Do If You Have an Outstanding Warrant
An open warrant does not go away on its own. Old traffic citations, missed court dates, and probation issues can sit in the system for years. The Sheriff can arrest on the warrant at a traffic stop, at home, or at work. The right move is to find out which court issued it, what the bond looks like, and whether counsel can arrange a self-surrender or a court appearance instead of an unplanned arrest.
- Identify the court that issued the warrant: Recorder's, Magistrate, State, Superior, Probate, or probation.
- Search the public case file on Chatham Case Lookup or re:Search Georgia when a case number is known.
- Contact the listed clerk and confirm the warrant. Do not ignore subpoenas or address-change duties.
- For State Court matters, confirm that the clerk has the correct mailing address. A wrong address can trigger a warrant, license suspension, or bond forfeiture.
- Call counsel, the Circuit Public Defender, Misdemeanor Defense, or a private attorney if arrest is possible.
- If bond is set after arrest, use the Sheriff's bonding procedure: bonding company, cash, credit, online, property, or out-of-county bond.
- Get a certified disposition once the case ends, especially if cash was posted or the record needs to be corrected.
Important: Talk to a lawyer before walking into a courthouse on an open warrant. The Circuit Public Defender's office can be reached at (912) 447-4901.
Reporting Tips on a Wanted Person
If the goal is to report a wanted person rather than search a name, contact the Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Richard S. Coleman's agency runs 24-hour assistance lines for booking, the front lobby, and the shift commander. Tips can also be left with Savannah Police, Chatham County Police, or other municipal departments. Use the Sheriff's Front Lobby at (912) 652-7785 for routine questions. For an in-progress crime, call 911 instead of any administrative line.
Restricted Chatham County Warrant Records
Not every warrant becomes part of the public record. Search warrants are usually not posted before they are served because publication would defeat the purpose. Sealed orders, juvenile warrants under O.C.G.A. 15-11-700 through 15-11-710, and certain protective-order details have limited access. Federal warrants do not appear on county sources. Federal cases run through the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, U.S. Marshals, and other federal agencies.
The GBI criminal history restriction page covers Georgia's record-restriction process for arrests after July 1, 2013, which can affect what shows up in a later background check. Record restriction is the Georgia version of expungement under O.C.G.A. 35-3-37. Restricted records remain available to courts and criminal justice agencies, even when private background checks no longer return them.