2023 CODE OF GEORGIA › Title 15 - COURTS (§§ 15-1-1 — 15-25-3) › Chapter 16 - SHERIFFS (§§ 15-16-1 — 15-16-59) › Article 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS (§§ 15-16-1 — 15-16-28) › Section 15-16-10 - Duties; penalties; electronic storage

(a)
It is the duty of the sheriff:
(1)
To execute and return the processes and orders of the courts and of officers of competent authority, if not void, with due diligence, when delivered to him for that purpose, according to this Code;
(2)
To attend, by himself or his deputy, upon all sessions of the superior court of the county and also upon sessions of the probate court whenever required by the judge thereof and, while the courts are in session, never to leave same without the presence of himself or his deputy, or both, if required;
(3)
To attend, in the same manner specified in paragraph (2) of this subsection, at the place or places of holding an election at the county site, on the day of an election, from the opening to the closing of the polls, and to take under his charge all subordinate officers present, as police to preserve order;
(4)
To publish sales, citations, and other proceedings as required by law and to keep a file of all newspapers in which his official advertisements appear, in the manner required of clerks of the superior courts;
(5)
To keep an execution docket wherein he must enter a full description of all executions delivered to him and the dates of their delivery, together with all his actions thereon, and to have the same ready for use in any court of his county;
(6)
To keep a book in which shall be entered a record of all sales made by process of court or by agreement of the parties under the sanction of the court, describing accurately the property and the process under which sold, the date of the levy and sale, the purchaser, and the price;
(7)
To receive from the preceding sheriff all unexecuted writs and processes and proceed to execute the same; to carry into effect any levy or arrest made by a predecessor; to put purchasers into possession, and to make titles to purchasers at his or her predecessor's sales, when not done by his or her predecessor;
(8)
To perform such other duties as are or may be imposed by law or which necessarily appertain to his or her office;
(9)
To exercise the same duties, powers, and arrest authority within municipalities which such officer exercises in the unincorporated areas of counties; and
(10)
To develop and implement a comprehensive plan for the security of the county courthouse and any courthouse annex. Prior to the implementation of any security plan, the plan shall be submitted to the chief judge of the superior court of the circuit wherein the courthouse or courthouse annex is located for review. The chief judge shall have 30 days to review the original or any subsequent security plan. The chief judge may make modifications to the original or any subsequent security plan. The sheriff shall provide to the county governing authority the estimated cost of any security plan and a schedule for implementation 30 days prior to adoption of any security plan. A comprehensive plan for courthouse security shall be considered a confidential matter of public security. Review of a proposed security plan by the governing authority shall be excluded from the requirements of Code Section
50-14-1
. Such security plan shall also be excluded from public disclosure pursuant to paragraph (25) of subsection (a) of Code Section
50-18-72
. The sheriff shall be the official custodian of the comprehensive courthouse security plan and shall determine who has access to such plan and any such access and review shall occur in the sheriff's office or at a meeting of the county governing authority held as provided in paragraph (4) of subsection (b) of Code Section
50-14-3
; provided, however, that the sheriff shall make the original security plan available upon request for temporary, exclusive review by any judge whose courtroom or chambers is located within the courthouse or courthouse annex or by any commissioner of the county in which the courthouse or courthouse annex is located. The sheriff shall be responsible to conduct a formal review of the security plan not less than every four years.
(b)
If any sheriff or deputy fails to comply with any provision of subsection (a) of this Code section, he or she shall be fined for a contempt as the clerk of superior court is fined in similar cases. Code Section
15-16-26
shall also apply to sheriffs.
(c)
In all counties of this state having a population of not less than 625,000 nor more than 725,000 according to the United States decennial census of 2000 or any future such census, it shall be the duty of the sheriffs of such counties to receive, confine, feed, and care for all persons charged with the violation of any ordinances of such counties in the same manner as persons charged with an indictable offense, whether such person charged with the violation of an ordinance is being held pending a hearing before the recorder's courts of such counties or has been sentenced by the recorder's courts to imprisonment in the county jail.
(d)
Nothing in this Code section shall restrict or otherwise prohibit a sheriff or a deputy sheriff or clerk acting under the authority of a sheriff from electing to store for computer retrieval any or all records, dockets, books, indices, or files; nor shall a sheriff or a deputy sheriff or clerk acting under the authority of a sheriff be prohibited from combining or consolidating any records, dockets, books, indices, or files in connection with the maintenance of any records of the kind specified or required in this Code section or any other law, provided that any automated or computerized record-keeping method or system shall provide for the systematic and safe preservation and retrieval of all such records, dockets, books, indices, or files. When the sheriff or a deputy sheriff or clerk acting under the authority of the sheriff elects to store for computer retrieval any or all records, the same data elements used in a manual system shall be used, and the same integrity and security maintained.
Amended by 2012 Ga. Laws 599,§ II-2-7, eff. 7/1/2012.
Amended by 2012 Ga. Laws 605,§ 4, eff. 4/17/2012.
Amended by 2006 Ga. Laws 647,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2006.
Amended by 2002 Ga. Laws 990, § 1, eff. 7/1/2002.