I’ve had this conversation with prosecutors in municipal and county courts all the time. They’ll tell me it is just a city or county ordinance, it’s not going on your client’s criminal history. And that is partially true. A city or county criminal ordinance, like many disorderly conduct charges in the City of Atlanta and Sandy Springs, city ordinance marijuana citations in the City of Atlanta, will not show up on your criminal history as a specific offense because it is not a state law violation. But there will be a record of that ordinance in the clerk’s office of the court in which the case was resolved.

I then see private background check companies looking at the court records of local courts near people’s addresses and pulling records on them. Even if there is no record on their official Georgia criminal history through the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. So when that prosecutor tells you it won’t be on your criminal history, that may be right, but a private background check company may still find it.

An attorney may be able to help you get that Georgia city or county ordinance violation dismissed and sealed at the clerk’s level. That would prevent it from being seen through online case searches, people going to clerk’s offices searching your name, and any other methods of digging for information regarding specific people. I see companies like Uber and Lyft doing this specifically based on your home address. Large corporations will also hire private companies to go to clerks offices and search your name. Once that information is out there, it can be shared digitally among multiple companies. You have one shot to protect your record. For a free consultation regarding your ordinance violation, call me today at 678-753-6431.