Davidson County DUI Guide

Post bail at 5:50 p.m. in Davidson County and you may still be sitting in a holding cell at 7:30. The Davidson County Sheriff's Office pauses release paperwork during shift changes, roughly 6 to 7 a.m. and 6 to 7 p.m., to get an accurate headcount before the next shift takes over. Bond posted in that window just sits there until processing resumes. It's one of several logistical details that catch families off guard after a DUI arrest in Nashville, where a consolidated city and county government splits the job between two agencies that never actually work together on your case.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) or the Tennessee Highway Patrol makes the arrest. The Davidson County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) has no role in traffic stops or 911 calls; its job starts the moment you're transferred into custody. Everything from that point forward, release paperwork, bond processing, property, runs through the Sheriff, not the officer who arrested you.

Booking and the Medical Screening Loop

DUI arrests almost always mean a full custodial booking, not the faster citation process used for minor misdemeanors. You're taken to the Downtown Detention Center (DDC) at 200 James Robertson Parkway, not the citation window at the A.A. Birch Building.

Before DDC staff will even accept you, the nurses on site run a medical screening. If your blood alcohol level is high enough to look like alcohol poisoning, or if there's evidence of a drug overdose or head trauma from a crash, medical staff can refuse to admit you. That triggers a hospital run, typically to Nashville General, for a "fit for confinement" clearance. It can add two to six hours before booking even starts, and no bond can be set until you're back and cleared.

Once you're booked, Tennessee law and local policy call for a "cooling off" hold, generally up to 12 hours or until you're sober, regardless of whether bond has already been posted. DCSO staff may run a portable breath test before release, and if you fail it, you stay in the holding cell.

Bail Runs on Risk Assessment, Not a Fixed Schedule

Davidson County moved away from a fixed bail schedule toward a system based on risk assessment. A Pretrial Services officer, working inside the DDC booking room around the clock, interviews you shortly after booking: residence, employment, how long you've lived locally, family ties, plus a national criminal history check. That interview becomes a risk report for the Night Court Commissioner, who actually sets your release conditions.

Refusing to cooperate with that interview tends to backfire. Without verified information to work from, the commissioner has less basis to justify releasing you on your own recognizance, so an uncooperative defendant often ends up with a secured bond by default.

If bond is set, you generally have three ways to satisfy it. A cash bond paid to the Criminal Court Clerk is refundable, minus court costs, once the case ends. A commercial bail bond agency will post it for a premium, typically 10 percent plus tax, and that premium is not refundable regardless of outcome. This site's directory lists licensed bail bond agencies serving the county. Defendants who can't afford either route sometimes turn to nonprofit bail assistance funds operating in Nashville, which screen applicants based on ability to pay and flight risk and don't cover every case.

Getting Your Car Back

Nashville privatized its impound operations in 2012, and United Road Vehicle Management Solutions (UR VMS) has run the lot since. It's at 1201 Freightliner Drive, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call 615-862-7800 before you drive over. Skipping that call is the most common way people waste a trip: the lot won't release a vehicle under an active hold no matter how ready you are to pay.

The fee schedule is set by ordinance. Towing runs $155 for a passenger car within the interstate loop, more outside it. Storage is $55 a day for a passenger car, accruing every 24 hours after an initial grace period, with cheaper daily rates for motorcycles and higher ones for larger vehicles. Ten days in jail before bonding out can mean $550 in storage alone before the tow fee is even added, which is how older vehicles worth less money sometimes end up abandoned rather than reclaimed.

A "hold" is a separate problem from money. If the DUI involved a serious injury, a death, or you were driving on a license that was already revoked, the vehicle can be held as evidence, and paying every fee in full won't move it. You need a release order from the police division that placed the hold, which can take days to arrange. To drive the car off the lot yourself you'll need a valid license; if yours is suspended, as it usually is after a DUI arrest, someone else with a valid license has to come get it, or it has to be towed again.

Where the Case Is Heard

DUI cases in Davidson County start in General Sessions Court, at the Justice A.A. Birch Building, 408 2nd Avenue North. The court is organized into eleven divisions, and the docket itself is split by custody status: a bond docket for defendants who are out, held on the 4th and 5th floors, and a separate jail docket for people still in custody, held on the 3rd floor. Felony DUI charges, or misdemeanor cases bound over, move to Criminal Court.

Security screening uses metal detectors and X-ray machines, and the court's dress code is enforced: no tank tops, shorts, sagging pants, or hats. Cell phones are generally allowed in the building if silenced, but not inside the courtroom itself, and a judge can confiscate one that goes off during a hearing.

The License Revocation Clock

Refusing a breath or blood test, or failing one, triggers a separate civil action from the Tennessee Department of Safety, independent of the criminal DUI charge. This is the implied consent process: by driving in Tennessee, you've already agreed to testing if you're arrested for DUI.

Contesting the automatic suspension means filing a written request, not a phone call, with the Department of Safety's Legal Division. Sources disagree on the exact number of days you get, and the honest answer is that it's short enough that the difference doesn't matter: treat it as roughly ten calendar days from the arrest and get the request in writing immediately, since missing the window means an automatic suspension with no hearing at all. Refusing the test carries a longer revocation than failing it outright.

Ignition Interlock and SCRAM Monitoring

Tennessee requires an ignition interlock device (IID) for most DUI convictions, and increasingly as a condition of bond before conviction. Installation typically runs $75 to $150, with a monthly lease of $60 to $125 plus a calibration check every 30 to 60 days. Intoxalock has the most installation locations in the area, though it's known for parasitic battery drain that can kill a car if it sits for a few days without a trickle charger. SmartStart has fewer install locations but a reputation for less aggressive battery drain. DCSO Pretrial Services or the probation department monitors compliance, and a failed breath test on the device gets reported to the court.

For defendants considered a higher risk, a judge may order a SCRAM ankle monitor instead, which tests sweat for alcohol continuously. It costs more: $50 to $100 to install, plus $10 to $15 a day, putting the monthly cost in the $300 to $450 range, billed to the defendant. Tennessee's Electronic Monitoring Indigency Fund can subsidize that cost for defendants with low income, but only with proof of indigency signed by a judge and a specific motion filed first; without that order, the monitoring company bills you directly.

DUI School and SR-22

A conviction typically requires completing an alcohol and drug safety course approved by the state, along with filing SR-22 proof of financial responsibility with your insurer before a restricted license will be issued. Expect an upfront SR-22 filing fee on top of a premium increase that follows you for several years. This site's directory can point you toward licensed treatment and assessment providers if the court orders a substance abuse evaluation as part of sentencing.