Gainesville 24 Hour Booking
Gainesville 24 hour booking records are managed through the Alachua County Sheriff's Office. The Gainesville Police Department handles most arrests in the city, but all bookings go through the county jail on Hawthorne Road. You can search for inmates online using the ACSO inmate lookup tool or check incidents through the Gainesville PD Police-to-Citizen portal. Both tools are free and open to anyone under Florida public records law. The GPD can be reached at 352-393-7500 for questions about specific arrests, and the Alachua County jail line is 352-491-4444.
Gainesville Quick Facts
Gainesville Arrest Records and Inmate Search
The Alachua County Sheriff's Office runs the main inmate search tool for Gainesville bookings. Go to the ACSO inmate lookup page and you can see every person currently held at the jail. The "View All" option pulls up the full roster sorted by the most recent bookings first. You can also search by last name to find a specific person.
Each listing shows the person's name, book date, race, sex, and age. There is a column for POD, which is the housing unit. The arrest agency field tells you who made the arrest. GPD means Gainesville Police Department. ASO means Alachua Sheriff's Office. UFPD stands for University of Florida Police Department. Multiple agencies book people into this one facility.
The Gainesville PD also runs a Police-to-Citizen (P2C) portal that gives access to limited info on incidents and arrests. This tool shows recent activity in the city. It is not as detailed as the county inmate search, but it can help you confirm if an incident took place and which unit responded. For full booking data, the ACSO tool is the better choice.
The Gainesville PD P2C portal is shown above.
How Gainesville 24 Hour Bookings Work
When someone is arrested in Gainesville, they go to the Alachua County jail at 2621 SE Hawthorne Road. That is where all booking happens. It does not matter if GPD, the sheriff, or UFPD made the arrest. Everyone goes through the same intake process at the same facility.
Intake staff record the person's name, date of birth, and physical details. A booking photo is taken. Fingerprints get collected and entered into the system. The charges are logged. Bond is set when it applies. The whole process creates a booking record that goes into the public file.
Under Section 119.07 of the Florida Statutes, this booking data is public. The ACSO makes it available online as a convenience. You can also call the jail or visit in person to get the same info. There is no fee to view the data. You only pay if you want formal copies through a public records request.
Gainesville is a college town. The University of Florida campus sits right in the city. UFPD makes its own arrests, and those people are booked at the county jail too. On game days and during large events, the volume of bookings can spike. Checking the ACSO roster more than once may be needed on busy weekends.
The Gainesville Police Department website is shown for reference.
Gainesville Booking Records and Public Access
Florida has some of the strongest public records laws in the country. The Sunshine Law means booking data from Gainesville is open to all. Under Section 119.011, a public record includes any material made or received by an agency in the course of official business. Booking records fall right in that definition.
Some records may not show up. Sealed or expunged cases are removed from public view. Juvenile records are handled in a separate system. Active investigations may have parts withheld under Section 119.071. But for adult arrests in Gainesville, the core booking data is there. Names, charges, bond, and dates are all public.
Remember that an arrest is not a conviction. The booking record shows someone was brought in. It lists the charges. What happens next is up to the courts. Charges can be dropped or reduced. A person may be acquitted. The booking record remains, but it only tells part of the story.
Contact Gainesville Police and Alachua County Jail
The Gainesville Police Department is at 545 NW 8th Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601. Call 352-393-7500 for non-emergency questions. This number works for asking about recent arrests or getting info on a case the GPD handled.
The Alachua County jail is at 2621 SE Hawthorne Road. The jail phone is 352-491-4444. Staff can check on an inmate's status, confirm a booking, or answer bond questions. This line is available around the clock.
Under Section 901.243 of Florida law, a person who is booked has the right to make phone calls within a reasonable time after booking is done. If you are waiting to hear from someone taken into custody in Gainesville, they should be able to call once the process is finished.
For statewide criminal history beyond Alachua County, the FDLE Criminal History portal runs background checks at $24 per search under Section 943.053. The free ACSO tool is better for quick 24 hour booking checks in Gainesville.
Alachua County Booking Records
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County. All arrests in the city are booked at the Alachua County jail. The sheriff's office manages the inmate roster and handles public records requests. For full details on the county system and additional resources, visit the Alachua County page.
Nearby Cities
Gainesville is in north-central Florida. The nearest qualifying city with a booking records page is Tallahassee.