Hinesville Criminal History Search

Criminal history records in Hinesville are managed by the Hinesville Police Department and the Liberty County court system. Hinesville is the county seat of Liberty County and sits next to Fort Stewart, which means a large part of the local population has military ties. The Hinesville PD handles arrests and incident reports for crimes inside city limits, while criminal court cases go through the Liberty County Superior Court. State databases from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation can also be used to find felony convictions from Hinesville cases. To get a complete criminal history from this area, you may need to check more than one source.

Hinesville Police Department Criminal Records

The Hinesville Police Department is the main law enforcement agency in the city. The department is at 102 Liberty Street, Hinesville, GA 31313. You can reach them at (912) 368-8211. The HPD handles all arrests, incident reports, and crime reports for things that happen inside Hinesville city limits. When someone is arrested in Hinesville, the police report is the first record that gets created. It includes the date of arrest, the charges, and the arresting officer.

Under Georgia law, the department sends arrest data to the Georgia Crime Information Center. This is how local arrests end up in the statewide criminal history system. A Hinesville arrest will show up in GCIC searches as well as local police records. If you need a copy of an arrest report or incident report from a Hinesville case, contact the HPD records unit directly. You can call or visit the Liberty Street office during normal business hours.

Because of the nearby military base, some cases in the Hinesville area involve both civilian and military jurisdiction. Crimes that happen on Fort Stewart are handled by military police and the federal court system, not the Hinesville PD. If the incident took place on post, local police records will not have it. You would need to go through the military system for those records.

Liberty County Handles Hinesville Court Records

Hinesville is in Liberty County. All criminal court cases from the city go through the Liberty County court system. The Superior Court Clerk handles felonies and serious misdemeanors. The clerk's office is at the Liberty County Courthouse in Hinesville, since Hinesville is the county seat. Case files include charges, plea information, trial results, and sentencing details.

Liberty County also has a Magistrate Court that handles preliminary hearings and some lower-level offenses. A case that starts in magistrate court can move to superior court if the charges are serious enough. That means a single case might have records in two different courts. For the most complete picture, check both.

The clerk charges a fee for certified copies of court records. You can make requests in person at the courthouse or by mail. Phone calls can help you figure out what you need before you visit. For more on the Liberty County system and what resources are available, see the Liberty County criminal history page.

State Criminal History Tools

The Georgia Felon Search is run by the state. It searches the GCIC database for felony convictions. The cost is $15 per search. You need a first name, last name, date of birth, and sex to run it. Results come back right away. The fee is charged even if no record is found. This covers Hinesville cases and all other Georgia locations.

The Georgia Department of Corrections offender search is free to use. It shows people who are in a state prison or on state supervision right now. Someone convicted in a Hinesville case who is serving time in a GDC facility will appear in this search. People held in the Liberty County Jail or those who have already served their time will not show up.

The GBI FAQ page explains how to get criminal history records in Georgia. It walks through the process for personal record requests and third-party searches. The GBI also does fingerprint-based criminal history checks. That is the most thorough option for getting an official copy of your own record.

Record Restriction for Hinesville Cases

Georgia does not use the word expungement. The term is record restriction. When a record is restricted, it gets sealed from public view. Law enforcement agencies can still see it. But it will not come up in a standard public search.

Dismissed charges may qualify for restriction. People who finished a pretrial diversion program can apply. First Offender cases are eligible too. Under the First Offender Act in O.C.G.A. Section 42-8-60, first-time offenders can complete their sentence and have the court discharge them without a formal conviction on record. Once that happens, the record gets restricted.

The full rules are laid out in O.C.G.A. Section 35-3-37. For arrests after July 1, 2013, the process starts with the prosecuting attorney. For older arrests, contact the arresting agency. In Hinesville, that means the Hinesville Police Department. The petition itself goes to the court that handled the case.

A retroactive First Offender option exists as well. If someone was not sentenced under that act but should have been, they can petition the court for that status after the fact. A successful petition can remove a conviction from the public record.

How to Find Criminal History in Hinesville

There are several paths to find criminal history tied to Hinesville. Which one you use depends on the type of record you need and how far back it goes.

• Call the Hinesville Police Department at (912) 368-8211 for arrest and incident reports
• Visit the Liberty County Superior Court Clerk for court case records
• Use the Georgia Felon Search for statewide felony conviction data
• Check the GDC offender search for people in state prisons
• Submit an open records request to the Hinesville PD for police records

Police records show details from the time of arrest. Court records from Liberty County tell you what happened with the charges, the plea, and the outcome. State tools cover felony convictions and corrections data. For a full picture, you may need to pull from more than one source. If the case involved something that happened on Fort Stewart, local records will not have it and you would need to go through the military system instead.

Open Records Requests in Hinesville

The Georgia Open Records Act lets people request public documents from government agencies. Criminal history records held by the Hinesville Police Department fall under this law. You can ask for incident reports, arrest reports, and related records from criminal cases in Hinesville.

Fees apply for copies. The city can charge for the time spent searching for the records and for copying them. Under the Open Records Act, agencies have to respond within three business days. That first response might just say the request was received and that more time is needed. Simple requests tend to come back faster.

Not everything is available. Records from open investigations can be withheld. Records that are restricted by court order or sealed under state law will not be released. If someone's criminal history has been restricted under O.C.G.A. Section 35-3-37, that information will not be provided to the public through an open records request.