Washington County Sheriff's Office

A staff of 41 at the Washington County Sheriff's Office in Sandersville covers 684 square miles of middle Georgia. Patrol, the office's most visible unit, runs four squads on twelve-hour shifts, answering 911 dispatches and, between calls, serving warrants and civil papers and enforcing traffic laws. A six-deputy Criminal Investigation Division investigates crime in the unincorporated county and steps into incorporated towns when another agency or a victim asks, and it assumes investigative authority over every major case and crime scene in the county at any hour, working alongside local, state and federal partners. The Washington County Jail can hold more than 200 inmates, including people awaiting trial, those serving sentences of a year or less and sentenced inmates waiting to be moved to another facility. Inmates can work toward a GED, two part-time chaplains lead Bible studies and services, and family visits happen by video, either on site on Wednesdays and Sundays or remotely from a computer or Android device. Its quarterly jail reports are published online for the public.