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.
Etowah County, Alabama, has about 103,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Etowah County Sheriff's Office, nine 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 Etowah 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: Etowah County public records, Alabama arrest records, Alabama inmate search and Alabama criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Etowah County
The Etowah County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Etowah County. It reported 121 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside nine of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Gadsden, 33,086 residents: 299 arrests reported for 2025.
- Rainbow City, 10,349 residents: 297 arrests reported for 2025.
- Southside, 9,633 residents: 53 arrests reported for 2025.
- Attalla, 5,746 residents: 275 arrests reported for 2025.
- Glencoe, 5,396 residents: 149 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hokes Bluff, 4,668 residents: 115 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sardis City, 1,782 residents: 114 arrests reported for 2025.
- Altoona, 955 residents: 6 arrests reported for 2025.
- Walnut Grove, 787 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2023.
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 Boaz Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Etowah County, so its arrests are not broken out for Etowah County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Etowah County: Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Etowah 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.
- Gadsden: 299 for 2025, 238 for 2024, 196 for 2023, 140 for 2022 and 690 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Rainbow City: 297 for 2025, 287 for 2024, 248 for 2023, 327 for 2022 and 443 for 2021.
- Attalla: 275 for 2025, 295 for 2024, 479 for 2023 and 445 for 2022.
- Glencoe: 149 for 2025, 177 for 2024 and 242 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Etowah County Sheriff's Office: 121 for 2025, 208 for 2024, 540 for 2023, 176 for 2022, 285 for 2021 and 221 for 2020.
- Hokes Bluff: 115 for 2025, 94 for 2024, 100 for 2023, 140 for 2022, 113 for 2021 and 163 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Sardis City: 114 for 2025, 164 for 2024, 153 for 2023, 112 for 2022, 157 for 2021 and 234 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Southside: 53 for 2025, 151 for 2024, 132 for 2023, 121 for 2022 and 241 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Altoona: 6 for 2025 and 4 for 2022; 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Walnut Grove: 0 for 2023 and 0 for 2022.
Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,429 arrests that year. The eight of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,423 in 2025 against 1,614 in 2024, down 12 percent.
Through August 2026, the seven agencies with every month so far on file reported 782 arrests, against 724 in the same months of 2025.
Walnut Grove reported only part of 2025 (8 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Etowah County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Etowah County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 510 people, down from about 900 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2020, the last year with a capacity figure, was 865 beds, and it ran at 81 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 Etowah County
An arrest in Etowah County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Etowah County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at etowah.alacourt.gov, phone 256-549-5372); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at etowahda.com).
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 Etowah County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Etowah County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Gadsden, Rainbow City, Southside, Attalla, Glencoe, Hokes Bluff or another of the cities listed above: 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 Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Etowah County Circuit Court, through the court records page at etowah.alacourt.gov, phone 256-549-5372.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at etowah.alacourt.gov/record-request-and-copies (page title: Etowah County | Sixteenth Circuit Court of Alabama).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to ALEA.
Cities in Etowah County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for nine of the 11 cities in Etowah County: Gadsden, Rainbow City, Southside, Attalla, Glencoe, Hokes Bluff, Sardis City, Altoona and Walnut Grove. Reece City and Ridgeville have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Etowah County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Etowah County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Etowah County each year?
Gadsden reported 299 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,429 between them.
Where are people arrested in Etowah County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Etowah County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Etowah County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Etowah 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 Etowah County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Etowah 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at etowah.alacourt.gov/record-request-and-copies.
Is this the official Etowah 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.