Search Gulf County Arrest Records

Gulf County busted mugshots and arrest records are managed by the Sheriff's Office in Port St. Joe. This small panhandle county on the Gulf of Mexico coast processes a low volume of arrests through its local detention facility. Even so, all Gulf County booking records, including mugshots and charge details, are public under Florida law. Anyone can request these records by phone, mail, or in person. Finding Gulf County arrest information requires reaching out to the Sheriff's Office since the county's online presence for inmate searches is minimal.

Gulf County Sheriff Mugshot Records

The Gulf County Sheriff's Office handles all law enforcement and jail operations for the county. Their office is at 1000 Cecil G. Costin Sr. Boulevard in Port St. Joe. When someone is arrested in Gulf County, they are brought to the detention facility for processing. The booking creates a record with a mugshot, charges, bond amount, and personal details. All of this is public information.

Call 850.227.1124 to reach the Gulf County Sheriff's Office. Staff can tell you about current inmates and their booking info. For copies of mugshots and detailed booking records from Gulf County, you may need to submit a written public records request. Walk-in requests are welcome during business hours at the Port St. Joe office. Gulf County is a small operation, so the staff can usually help you fairly quickly if you have a name to look up.

The Gulf County Sheriff's website provides basic agency information and contact details for their departments.

The screenshot above is from the Gulf County Sheriff's Office website, the main online starting point for arrest record inquiries in the county.

How to Find Gulf County Booking Data

The best way to find Gulf County busted mugshots is by calling the Sheriff's Office. Give the jail staff a name and they can check their records. Gulf County handles fewer arrests than most Florida counties, which means searches tend to be straightforward. If the person is in custody, staff can usually confirm that quickly.

State-level tools also cover Gulf County. The Florida Jail Information System from the Florida Sheriffs Association aggregates booking information from agencies around the state. You can search by name, check recent bookings, or track a person of interest. The Florida Department of State jail directory links to contact information for Gulf County and every other county in the state.

Gulf County shares the 14th Judicial Circuit with Bay, Calhoun, Holmes, Jackson, and Washington counties. If an arrest happened near a county border, you might need to check the neighboring county's records too. Bay County in Panama City is the largest agency in the circuit and has a more robust online booking search tool than Gulf County does.

Note: Gulf County's small size means fewer records to sift through, but it also means less online infrastructure for self-service searches.

Gulf County Public Records Rights

Florida's public records law under Chapter 119 applies equally to all counties regardless of size. Gulf County arrest records and mugshots are public. Section 119.01 says access is a duty. You can request records anonymously and without explaining your reasons.

Standard exemptions apply in Gulf County. Law enforcement officer booking photos are protected under Section 119.071(4)(d) when the officer files a confidentiality request. Victim information in certain crime categories is also exempt. Every other Gulf County arrest record, including mugshots of non-law-enforcement individuals, is fully open. The Sheriff's Office must provide access within a reasonable time and can charge standard copy fees of 15 cents per page or up to $1.00 for certified copies.

Sealing Gulf County Arrest Records

People with a Gulf County arrest may qualify to seal or expunge their record. Sealing under Section 943.059 removes public access. Expungement under Section 943.0585 physically destroys the record. The first step is getting a certificate of eligibility from the FDLE Seal and Expunge Section.

The fee is $75 by money order. Processing takes about 12 weeks. Contact FDLE at 850.410.7870 or email SEinfo@fdle.state.fl.us. Once you have the certificate, file a petition with the 14th Judicial Circuit Court that covers Gulf County. If the judge approves, the arrest record gets sealed or destroyed. But private websites that already published Gulf County mugshots are not affected by the court order. That is a common frustration, and Florida law currently does not force private sites to comply.

Note: Florida only allows one seal or expunge action per lifetime, so weigh the decision carefully before proceeding.

State Tools for Gulf County Records

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement handles statewide criminal history checks for $24 each. This includes Gulf County and all 66 other Florida counties. Call 850.410.8109 to request one. The FDLE public records custodian at 850.410.7676 or publicrecords@fdle.state.fl.us handles other record inquiries.

The Florida Department of Corrections offender search is a free online tool for finding people who moved from county jail to state prison. If someone arrested in Gulf County is now in the state system, this tool shows their location, sentence details, and expected release date. For more detailed corrections records, call the DOC public records office at 850-717-9774.

Cities in Gulf County

Port St. Joe is the county seat and the main city in Gulf County. Wewahitchka is the other incorporated town. Mexico Beach, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018, is also in Gulf County. All arrests across the county go through the Sheriff's Office detention facility in Port St. Joe. No cities in Gulf County meet the population threshold for a separate page.

Nearby Counties

Gulf County borders several other panhandle counties. Each runs its own jail and handles bookings independently.