Tifton Police Department Records Specialists
There are seven clerks assigned to Records Division. Their job is to maintain the tons of paperwork that go through the Police Department each day. They type and enter all offense reports, accident reports, traffic tickets, and personnel information into the computers and then file the original paperwork. I am sure I have not covered half their duties here. Without their hard and often unrewarded efforts the police department could not survive. As you can see, the Records Specialist division has an awesome responsibility to the police department.
INCIDENT REPORTS
An incident report is a report taken by an officer at your request with information as to what happened. An incident report can be a report of anything from a lost dog call to an assault.
To obtain an incident report you will need to know the date of when the report was taken as well as the name of the person who made the report. The cost of an incident report is 25 cents.
ACCIDENT REPORTS
An accident report is a report made by an officer that involves one or more vehicles.
To obtain an accident report you will be required by law, code section 50-18-72(4.1), to fill out a Georgia uniform motor vehicle accident report, stating why you need a copy of the accident report. Accidents Report are given out to persons that have a personal interest in the report or are being represented by a lawyer or some other type of representative, or for news media purposes.
When requesting a copy of an accident or incident report, the officer has 72 hours to complete these reports, but most officers have them ready in 24 hours of taking the report. By law an accident report cannot be faxed. The cost of an accident report is $5.00.
Accident reports are also available online at www.buycrash.com
CRIMINAL HISTORY
A criminal history is a record of criminal activity that a person has been charged with. This record stays with the person until the person has it expunged/ removed from their record. Anyone can have a criminal history ran on him/her self upon the completion of a consent form.
To obtain a criminal history for yourself you will need to have your driver’s license and you are required to fill out a consent form giving the clerk on duty permission to run your history. Cost of a criminal history is $5.00.
CRIMINAL HISTORY FOR EMPLOYMENT OR HOUSING
To obtain a criminal history for an employment agency, child care facility or any other employment reason you will fill out the consent form and bring it to the police department along with drivers license and the history will be ran for that employer. Most employers bring their own consent forms that you have signed and that have been notarized to us and we then run the history for that employer. Cost of this type of history is $5.00.
EXPUNGEMENT OR REMOVAL FROM CRIMINAL HISTORY
Expungement refers to the purging of criminal history records. O.C.G.A. §35‐3‐37(d) provides for the expungement of certain criminal history records when approved by the prosecuting attorney. Expungements are not legal for offenses for which the defendant was convicted, pled guilty, or pled NOLO Contendre. If the defendant paid a fine, did community service work or was on probation the charge cannot be expunged. To have a charge expunged from a criminal record you will fill out a Request To Expunge Arrest Record Form at the police department. The form is then given to police department personnel who in return completes the necessary procedures for removal. The form is then forwarded to the prosecuting attorney for their approval. There is a $25.00 processing fee charged by our department as authorized under O.C.G.A. §35‐3‐37(d)(1)(B). GCIC also charges a $25.00 processing fee.
CASH BOND, APPEARANCE BOND AND PROPERTY BOND PROCEDURES
Our office is open 24hours, 7 days a week for the convenience of the public. Our department accepts cash bonds after 5:00pm. Any cash bonds before 5:00pm are to be paid at the Clerk of Courts office at the north side of the Criminal Justice Building on Hwy 82 E.
Upon the arrest of a person, the arresting officer takes the person to jail, the officer has paperwork that he writes up and depending on circumstances that can’t be helped, brings the paperwork to the police department immediately where the shift supervisor has to approve it. It is then turned into the records clerks in the front office. Paperwork can be turned into the records clerks anywhere from 30 minutes after arrest up to several hours after arrest; however, the officers try to get paperwork turned in, in a timely manner.
We ask the public that wish to make a bond of some kind to be patient with the record clerks and to wait 30 minutes to an hour before calling and inquiring about a person who was taken to jail.
CASH BOND
When posting a cash bond for a person in jail, you will need to bring the correct change. We do not keep change in the records office. The records clerk on duty will write you a receipt and give you a release slip, which you will take to the county jail.
APPEARANCE BOND
A bonding company signs paperwork to get a person out of jail.
We have a list of bonding companies on our lobby door, as well as in the phone book. The public has to choose their own bondsman. The clerk on duty cannot do it for them. Don’t ask them too. The first bondsman to arrive to post the bond is the bondsman that the clerk allows to post the bond, whether it was the one you chose or not. Usually the rate a bondsman asks for is 10%-12% of the bond amount. A cash bond doubles to become the appearance bond amount. For example: if cash bond amount was $322.50, and a bondsman signs an appearance bond the bond doubles to $645.00, which you pay the 10%-12% of that amount to the bondsman.
PROPERTY BOND
A property owner signs paperwork to get a person out of jail.
If someone owns property in Tift County and can provide the last year or the present years tax receipt with “PAID” stamped on it along with a picture I.D. that person could sign a property bond, which doubles just like appearance bond. Only the person who owns the property with proper proof can sign the property bond.
TRANSFER BOND
If someone owns property in some other county, the sheriff of that county has to fill out and sign their copy of a property bond sending it with the person that is picking up the person in jail. You bring that copy to the police department. Only the chief of police or the shift supervisor on duty at our department can authorize it. This is not allowed all the time, only during special circumstances. A person should call our department before doing this.
For questions of concerns please feel free to contact Teia Trepanier via e-mail: trepanier@tifton.net
