Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site on September 24, 2026.
Colbert County, Alabama, has about 59,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Colbert County Sheriff's Office, six city agencies and one other agency. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Colbert County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Colbert County public records, Alabama arrest records, Alabama inmate search and Alabama criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Colbert County
The Colbert County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Colbert County. It reported 560 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists six cities in Colbert County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Muscle Shoals, 17,409 residents: 869 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sheffield, 9,335 residents: 521 arrests reported for 2025.
- Tuscumbia, 9,222 residents: 86 arrests reported for 2024.
- Littleville, 1,054 residents: 48 arrests reported for 2025.
- Cherokee, 967 residents: 49 arrests reported for 2025.
- Leighton, 662 residents: 54 arrests reported for 2024.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Colbert County: District Attorney at 31st Circuit (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Colbert County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Muscle Shoals: 869 for 2025, 968 for 2024, 952 for 2023, 737 for 2022 and 959 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Colbert County Sheriff's Office: 560 for 2025, 519 for 2024, 510 for 2023, 803 for 2022 and 868 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Sheffield: 521 for 2025, 681 for 2024, 684 for 2023 and 628 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Cherokee: 49 for 2025, 34 for 2024, 56 for 2023, 50 for 2022 and 58 for 2021.
- Littleville: 48 for 2025, 27 for 2024, 31 for 2023, 33 for 2022 and 67 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Tuscumbia: 86 for 2024, 95 for 2023 and 239 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Leighton: 54 for 2024 and 96 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,047 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,047 in 2025 against 2,229 in 2024, down 8.2 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 632 arrests, against 813 in the same months of 2025.
Tuscumbia and Leighton reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 8 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Colbert County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Colbert County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 72 people, down from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 152 beds, and it ran at 95 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Colbert County
For Colbert County the place to look is the case index of the Colbert County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at colbert.alacourt.gov, phone 256.536.9645).
Statewide, Alacourt is the statewide online index of Alabama trial court cases, sold by subscription.
Alabama does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Colbert County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Alabama Public Records Law the agency must answer within a reasonable time; the statute sets no fixed deadline, and it may charge a reasonable fee for copies.
- An arrest by the Colbert County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, Tuscumbia, Littleville, Cherokee or Leighton: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by District Attorney at 31st Circuit: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Colbert County Circuit Court, through the court records page at colbert.alacourt.gov, phone 256.536.9645.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to ALEA.
Cities in Colbert County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the six cities in Colbert County: Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, Tuscumbia, Littleville, Cherokee and Leighton.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Colbert County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Colbert County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Muscle Shoals (17,409)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Colbert County each year?
Muscle Shoals reported 869 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,047 between them.
Where are people arrested in Colbert County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Colbert County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Colbert County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Colbert County Circuit Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Alabama Public Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Colbert County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Colbert County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Alabama Public Records Law the answer is due within a reasonable time; the statute sets no fixed deadline.
Is this the official Colbert County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.