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.
West Memphis, Arkansas, in Crittenden County, has about 24,000 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 Crittenden 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: West Memphis public records, Crittenden County arrest records, Arkansas arrest records and Arkansas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in West Memphis
The FBI lists West Memphis with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as West Memphis Police Department. It reported 1,685 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 Crittenden County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 581 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests West Memphis 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.
- West Memphis: 1,685 for 2025, 1,783 for 2024, 1,723 for 2023, 1,803 for 2022, 1,963 for 2021 and 2,293 for 2020.
West Memphis's 1,685 arrests in 2025 were down 5.5 percent from 1,783 in 2024.
Across Crittenden County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,185 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in West Memphis Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in West Memphis 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 120 people, down from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 338 beds, and it ran at 66 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Crittenden County Sheriff's Office at crittcoso.com/jail-roster-app (page title: Jail Roster App | Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department), phone 870-702-2000, 350 Afco Road West Memphis, AR 72301, 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 person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Arkansas Division of Correction, whose inmate locator is at doc.arkansas.gov/correction/online-services.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in West Memphis
Whether someone was arrested in West Memphis, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Crittenden County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Crittenden County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at arcourts.gov/directories/circuit-clerks, phone 870-659-2098).
Statewide, CourtConnect is the Arkansas Judiciary's free statewide case search.
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 West Memphis
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 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 West Memphis police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at westmemphisar.gov/426/Records-Divison (page title: Records Divison | West Memphis, AR), 626 East Broadway West Memphis, AR 72301-3211, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Crittenden County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 870-702-2000.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Crittenden County Circuit Court, through the court records page at arcourts.gov/directories/circuit-clerks, phone 870-659-2098.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau.
The Crittenden County guide covers every agency in the county: Crittenden County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in West Memphis each year?
West Memphis reported 1,685 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in West Memphis?
Look on the custody page of the Crittenden County Sheriff's Office at crittcoso.com/jail-roster-app, or call 870-702-2000. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in West Memphis booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Crittenden County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in West Memphis?
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 West Memphis?
From the agency that made the arrest: the West Memphis police for its own arrests, the Crittenden 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 West Memphis 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.