Discover Free Davidson County Arrest Records & Bail Procedures

Search free Davidson County arrest records in no time using the convenient, efficient online lookup tools and access methods described in this streamlined resource.

Records pertaining to arrests made locally are available to the public, so any interested citizen can look them up any time. This article provides valuable information needed to search for arrest records on anyone in custody throughout Davidson County, Tennessee.

How To View Up-to-Date Davidson County Arrest Records & Mugshots (Free)

The State of Tennessee Open Records Act (tenn. code ann. § 10-7-503(a)(2)(a)) allows all members of the public to inspect, review, and obtain court records.¹

This includes criminal and arrest records and mugshots. There are exceptions for records that are deemed not public due to special extenuating circumstances.

Law enforcement agencies at different jurisdictional levels are charged with different objectives. Uniformed police officers of the local police departments and county sheriffs deal with lower-level crimes and traffic infractions. These officers make arrests when warrants are issued by local jurisdictions.

When state and federal law enforcement agents are conducting operations in Davidson County that result in arrests, all arrestees are booked at the county jail facility, which is where the arrest records originated.

In the case of Davidson County, the City of Nashville, Tennessee, encompasses most of the county area. There are four other small townships with populations of less than 5000. Consequently, all arrests from all law enforcement agencies throughout the county are booked at the Downtown Detention Center (DDC), which is operated by the Davidson County Sheriff’s Department.

Once an arrest takes place anywhere in Davidson County, the booking process takes place at the county jail and the police arrest record is originated.

If the law enforcement agency that made the arrest is one other than the sheriff’s department, it will maintain a record of the police report, as will the county sheriffs’ jail facility because that’s where the booking process and detention takes place.

The arrestee can be searched as an inmate of the facility from which arrest record information can be obtained. If and when the inmate is released from the county jail, and as the case makes its way through the judicial process, the arrest record becomes an attachment of the larger court case file. However, the original police/arrest record will reside with the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and the law enforcement agency that made the arrest.

The Sheriff’s Department’s public website does provide a free online search tool that any member of the public can use to find inmates who have been booked and are actively in custody at the jail facility.²

A search can be initiated using only the first and/or last name of the inmate. The advanced option allows users to narrow the search by adding search fields, including date of birth, OCA number (Originating Case Agency), warrant number, or CIS number (Computer Information System).

The database search will download a table of records with data fields that include name, ace, sex, date of birth, control number, and facility. Also included is a link to a detailed arrest record.

Following the “View Details” link brings up a full report detailing all the charges and pertinent dates. If there are multiple charges, each one will be listed separately, along with information about warrant, disposition, bonds, and the status of each charge.

The search tool also has the option to search all inmates who have been arrested within the prior 48 hours from the time the search is performed.

Instead of a specific individual, a complete list of all arrestees arrested within the last 48 hours is retrieved from which a review search can be made.

A telephone or in-person query about an arrest record can be made to the Davidson Sheriff’s Department using the following phone and location information:

Davidson County Sheriff’s Office
One Jerry Newson Way
Nashville, Tennessee, 37201

Phone: 615.862.8123

An inquiry can also be made directly to the Davidson County Sheriff’s Downtown Detention Center using the following phone and location information:

Davidson County Sheriff’s Downtown Detention Center
200 James Robertson Pkwy,
Nashville, Tennessee, 37201

Phone: 615.862.8224

The Davidson County Sheriff’s Department does not include mugshots as part of the record that is posted online. Obtaining a mugshot requires a records request for a full police incident report. This will be outlined in the next section of this article.

At the local level, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department does not operate a jail. As previously stated, in Davidson County, all arrest bookings and detention are done at the county level. Therefore, searching arrest records generated by the Nashville Metropolitan Police is the same as outlined above.

However, the Nashville Metropolitan Police does provide a daily booking list of arrests that have occurred over the prior 3-days.³

Arrests that occur over the weekend are posted to the list on the next business day. The information included on the booking list is limited to the name of the arrestee, a brief description of the charges, arrest date, and the street address of where the arrest took place.

To obtain the full police report of the arrest from the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department, it is necessary to make a public records request. A fee of $13 is charged to obtain the record. A request can be made by telephone or in person via the following phone or location information:

Nashville Metropolitan Police Department
Police Central Records
811 Anderson Ln., Ste. 100
Madison, TN 37115

Phone: 615.862.7631

On the arrest record details webpage that results from a search on the Davidson County free search tool outlined above, there are two links included on the upper right-hand corner labeled as “Criminal History” and “Vine Notification.”

The Vine notification link leads to the VINELink website. VINELink is a privately run resource for information on criminal cases and custody status information. The criminal history link is useful for searching prior arrests and is explained in detail in the next section of this article.

How To Obtain Details of Prior Arrests & Charges in Davidson County Tennessee

If the arrestee, or anyone else has a prior arrest or a criminal record, a link mentioned above labeled “Criminal History” leads users to the Davidson County Court public website on which court records for prior court cases are listed for the individual that is the subject of the current search on the Davidson County Sheriff’s Department search tool.⁵

To initiate a new search, new data parameters may be entered into the search tool located at the top of the webpage.

Following the link to one of the court case records on the list will lead to a record webpage with more details regarding the specific charge.

An inquiry about prior arrests can also be made by telephone or in person by contacting or visiting the Davidson County Criminal Court clerk at the following contact and location information:⁶

Davidson County Clerk’s Office
408 2nd Ave., North, Ste. 2120
Nashville, Tennessee 37201

Phone: 615.862.5601

At the municipal level, prior arrest records can be obtained from the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department via a public records request, as outlined in the prior section of this article. This applies to arrests made by officers of the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department.

A search for prior arrests or court records at the state level will ultimately lead back to the county where the arrest was made and the court case is adjudicated.

Most people have never been arrested and are not familiar with the process. Once someone is arrested, getting out of jail becomes the highest priority.

How To Find a Bail Bondsman or Post Bail for Someone Arrested in Davidson County

After being arrested and booked, the first thing that happens within 24-hours is a bond hearing. The bail amount will be determined by a judge which will need to be posted by the arrestee ( who is now referred to as a defendant) in order to be released from custody.

In some cases, a defendant may be released on personal recognizance in which case the bail amount is zero. This is usually the case for first time nonviolent offenders.

For repeat offenders of more serious crimes, a judge determines a bail monetary amount based on the crime committed and criminal history. The defendant has the right to be represented by an attorney at the bond hearing.

Defendants who are repeat violent offenders and whom the judge considers a flight risk will have a much higher amount. In some cases, bail may be denied.

After a judge sets the bail amount, if the defendant has the financial resources to pay it in full, the bail can be posted at the court or at the detention facility where the defendant is an inmate. In certain cases, a judge may exercise their discretion and only require a portion of the bail to be posted.

For defendants who are not able to afford the full amount, the services of a bail bondsman can be used to obtain a surety bond and pay the bail to be released from custody.

A bail agency, also referred to as a bail bondsman, puts up the entire bail amount, charges a fee (as high as 20%) and usually demands a form of collateral to secure the bond, often in the form of a home or other valuable asset. A list of approved Bond Companies is available on the Davidson County website.⁷

If the defendant does not appear in court as ordered on the date set, the bail is forfeited to the court. Once the defendant appears in court as obligated, bail funds are returned at the end of the trial, less any fines or restitution amounts if the defendant is found guilty.

All the municipalities in Davidson County use the county’s detention facility. Consequently, the procedures for hearings and posting bail are the same.

Becoming familiar with how to search Davidson County arrest records may prove to be useful if ever confronted with the unexpected circumstances involving an arrest; the information in this article will provide the needed guidance on the arrest, booking, and bail processes.