Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 between September 24, 2026 and September 26, 2026.
Malvern, Arkansas, in Hot Spring County, has about 11,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Hot Spring County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Malvern public records, Hot Spring County arrest records, Arkansas arrest records and Arkansas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Malvern
The FBI lists Malvern with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Malvern Police Department. It reported 318 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Hot Spring County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 65 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Hot Spring County: the State Park at DeGray Lake Resort State Park and the State Park at Lake Catherine State Park (state agency).
How Many Arrests Malvern Reports
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.
- Malvern: 318 for 2025, 322 for 2024, 356 for 2023, 446 for 2022, 526 for 2021 and 429 for 2020.
Malvern's 318 arrests in 2025 were down 1.2 percent from 322 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Malvern reported 170 arrests, against 175 in the same months of 2025.
Across Hot Spring County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 383 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Malvern Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Malvern 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 2017 the jail held about 51 people. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Hot Spring County Sheriff's Office at hotspringcountysoar.gov/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_time=... (page title: Inmate Roster | Hot Spring County Sheriff's Office | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Arkansas Division of Correction lists its inmates at doc.arkansas.gov/correction/online-services.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Malvern
An arrest in Malvern can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Hot Spring County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; CourtConnect, the Arkansas Judiciary's free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed.
Arkansas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the state runs an online name-based background check open to the public, through the Arkansas State Police. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Malvern
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 3 working days when the record is not immediately available, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
- An arrest by the Malvern police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at malvernar.gov/m/directory/department?did=13 (page title: Staff Directory, Police Department), phone 501-332-3636, 110 N Main St Malvern, AR 72104, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Hot Spring County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau.
The Hot Spring County guide covers every agency in the county: Hot Spring County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Malvern each year?
Malvern reported 318 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Malvern?
Look on the custody page of the Hot Spring County Sheriff's Office at hotspringcountysoar.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Malvern booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hot Spring County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Malvern?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Arkansas State Police: the state runs an online name-based background check open to the public. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Malvern?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Malvern police for its own arrests, the Hot Spring County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 3 working days when the record is not immediately available.
Is this the official Malvern website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.