Tennessee, county records
Find the right office in DeKalb County. Court cases, deeds and parcels, sheriff and jail records, vital records and county filings, each linked to the office that keeps them.
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Every card below goes to the government office responsible for that record. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.
County court
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee hears federal cases in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Greeneville and Winchester, with dockets on PACER. Middle and West Tennessee have their own district courts.
Open official site Tennessee Federal CasesProperty records
Obtain property tax info by contacting the TN Comptroller of the Treasury.
Open official site Tennessee Property RecordsVital records
Request birth and death certificates from the TN Dept. of Health.
Open official site Tennessee Birth RecordsState records
Find active and inactive corporations by name from the Tennessee Department of State.
Open official site Tennessee Business & Corporation SearchState records
Search property and claim status by individual name or business through the Treasury Dept.
Open official site Tennessee Unclaimed PropertyPolice & jail
The Tennessee Department of Correction publishes its own list of offenders now under a sentence of death in Tennessee, with related facts on the state's death penalty.
Open official site Tennessee Death RowEverything else, organized
1 more DeKalb County source not listed above.
Local record guide
County profile
Sheriff & Law Enforcement. DeKalb County Sheriff's Office is responsible for law enforcement in the unincorporated areas of DeKalb County.
Police Departments. In addition to DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, law enforcement in DeKalb County is provided by municipal police departments, including the Smithville Police Department and the Alexandria Police Department.
Law Enforcement & Arrests. DeKalb County Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency for unincorporated areas of DeKalb County, Tennessee, providing patrol services, criminal investigations, civil process service, and operation of DeKalb County jail. DeKalb County Jail, operated by the Sheriff's Office, houses pre-trial detainees and sentenced misdemeanor offenders. Within DeKalb County, the Smithville Police Department provides law enforcement services within the city limits of Smithville and can be contacted for Arrest records and booking information are considered public records under the Tennessee Public Records Act (Tennessee Code Annotated § 10-7-503 et seq.), which grants citizens the right to inspect and copy public records unless specifically exempted by law.
Arrest Records. Arrest records in DeKalb County are maintained by DeKalb County Sheriff's Office.
Mugshots & Booking Photos. Mugshots in DeKalb County are taken and retained by DeKalb County Sheriff's Office during the booking process.
Abandoned mine records
Where the workings are, and the office that holds the mine maps.
From the old mine records
The mine records hold 80 mine sites inside the county: 2 past producers, now closed, 74 prospects or occurrences that were never worked, 4 sites producing when the record was made; the old survey maps add 7 holes drawn inside the county, 0 of them shafts or tunnels. The minerals the records name are Uranium; Barium-Barite; Fluorine-Fluorite, Sulfur, Zinc.
A point in either file is a location, not a property line: the sheet shows the opening on the surface, not the rooms under it. The record that shows what runs under a parcel is the mine map. The OSMRE National Mine Map Repository holds scanned underground mine maps and answers requests for a named mine or an area. Tennessee's coal regulatory program was run by OSMRE until the state took it back; the state AML program is in TDEC.
Rows taken off the old survey maps open the USGS record of what sits at that spot, because no single feature on those maps has a page of its own. Rows from the mine records open their own USGS page.
Tennessee abandoned mine maps ranks every county and town in the state by the workings recorded inside it, names the office that holds the mine maps, and says what to do if the ground moves.
Disclaimer: The mine information here is for general information only. Old mine records can be incomplete, outdated or wrong, and finding nothing here does not mean there is nothing there. Check with the mine map office named here before you rely on it, and have a qualified engineer look at any ground you are worried about. PublicRecordCenter.com assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from the use of this information.
Labor Department file
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division closed 25 investigations in DeKalb County since fiscal 2005 and recorded $312,995 in back wages agreed for 199 workers. The county is the one the Census Bureau puts each employer's ZIP code in. Snapshot of April 22, 2026; a case here is a finding by the Division, not a court judgment.
| Employer | City | Cases | Back wages | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeKalb County Government | Smithville | 3 | $98,296 | 58 |
| Dekalb County, Tennessee | Smithville | 2 | $90,998 | 6 |
| Turner & Sons Nursery- AGER | Smithville | 1 | $44,068 | 35 |
| William (Dub) Jackson Evins III | Smithville | 1 | $23,022 | 19 |
| Triple T | Smithville | 1 | $16,578 | 9 |
| Tommy Wayne Culwell | Smithville | 1 | $10,280 | 13 |
| Prichard Bi-Rite | Alexandria | 1 | $10,004 | 8 |
| Jimmy Cunningham | Smithville | 1 | $8,251 | 4 |
| Center Hill Nursery, LLC | Smithville | 1 | $4,084 | 8 |
| Berry Family Nurseries | Smithville | 1 | $3,975 | 4 |
| Gino's Bar-B-Q, Inc. | Smithville | 1 | $1,530 | 18 |
| Judkins Nursery Inc. | Smithville | 1 | $1,216 | 11 |
| Aaron Tippin Outdoors & Convenience Store | Dowelltown | 1 | $660 | 5 |
| Marque of Brands Americas, LLC | Alexandria | 1 | $33 | 1 |
| Aravind Mallipudi, Inc. | Smithville | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| New Frontiers | Dowelltown | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Campbell Communications | Smithville | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Pirtle Nursery Inc. | Smithville | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| James C. Wall, Jr. MD | Smithville | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Campbell Services, LLC Graham Services LLC | Smithville | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Federal-Mogul Products, Inc | Smithville | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Candelario Sepulveda Juarez | Smithville | 1 | $0 | 0 |
Every employer on the DeKalb County record, by back wages agreed; 11 employers have a page of their own and open from the table, the rest show their whole record in this row. The Tennessee wage theft records page ranks the whole state.
Straight answers
Open only the answer you need.
Booking photos are kept by the agency that made the arrest, such as the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department or a city police department in DeKalb County. Ask that agency for its record.
The Tennessee criminal history record comes from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). Request a Tennessee name based criminal history check online through Tennessee Open Records Information Services (TORIS), paying by credit card. Fee: $29.00 for each name based check.
Search the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry (TBI), or every state at once on the National Sex Offender Public Website run by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Register with the county election commission or through the Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Elections. You can also register online with the state online registration. You must be registered no later than 30 days before the election; mailed forms must be postmarked at least 30 days before.
Deeds and other recorded land documents in DeKalb County are kept by the DeKalb County register of deeds. Property values are set by the county assessor of property, and tax bills come from the county trustee.
Certified birth and death certificates for Tennessee come from the Tennessee Department of Health, Office of Vital Records. All county health departments can issue any birth or death certificate registered statewide with the Tennessee Office of Vital Records; you do not need to go to the county where the event occurred. In person with no appointment at Tennessee Vital Records, 1st Floor, Andrew Johnson Tower, 710 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN 37243, or at any county health department; by mail to that address with a check or money order payable to Tennessee Vital Records; or online through VitalChek. Fee: $15.00 for each birth or death certificate, first and additional copies.
Business entity filings are searched with the Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Business and Charitable Organizations. Business licenses are issued by the county clerk, and by the city if it imposes the business tax, where the business is located; businesses with taxable receipts over $3,000 need one.
Same county
Use the city page when a record was created by a municipal police department or city office; use the county page for courts, deeds, vital records and jail custody.