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.
Baxter County, Arkansas, has about 43,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Baxter County Sheriff's Office, five city agencies and one state 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 Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Baxter 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: Baxter County public records, Arkansas arrest records, Arkansas inmate search and Arkansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Baxter County
The Baxter County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Baxter County. It reported 635 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in Baxter County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Mountain Home, 13,348 residents: 877 arrests reported for 2025.
- Gassville, 2,196 residents: 68 arrests reported for 2025.
- Cotter, 948 residents: 12 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lakeview, 786 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2025.
- Norfork, 480 residents: 5 arrests reported for 2025.
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 Baxter County: the State Park at Bull Shoals-White River State Park (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Baxter County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Mountain Home: 877 for 2025, 1,059 for 2024, 1,132 for 2023, 972 for 2022, 1,021 for 2021 and 1,071 for 2020.
- Baxter County Sheriff's Office: 635 for 2025, 581 for 2024, 377 for 2023, 324 for 2022, 349 for 2021 and 500 for 2020.
- Gassville: 68 for 2025, 58 for 2024, 80 for 2023, 132 for 2022, 137 for 2021 and 46 for 2020.
- Cotter: 12 for 2025, 25 for 2024, 30 for 2023, 44 for 2022, 22 for 2021 and 35 for 2020.
- Norfork: 5 for 2025, 2 for 2024, 4 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 2 for 2021 and 7 for 2020.
- Lakeview: 2 for 2025, 7 for 2024, 44 for 2022, 19 for 2021, 7 for 2020 and 22 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,599 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,599 in 2025 against 1,732 in 2024, down 7.7 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Baxter County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Baxter 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 89 people, down from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 170 beds, and it ran at 52 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 Baxter County Sheriff's Office at baxtercountysheriff.com/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_time=... (page title: Inmate Roster | Baxter 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 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 Baxter County
Whether someone was arrested in Baxter County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Baxter County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Baxter County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at caseinfo.arcourts.gov/opad).
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 Baxter 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 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 Baxter County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Mountain Home, Gassville, Cotter, Lakeview or Norfork: 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 the State Park at Bull Shoals-White River State Park: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Baxter County Circuit Court, through the court records page at caseinfo.arcourts.gov/opad.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau.
Cities in Baxter County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the eight cities in Baxter County: Mountain Home, Gassville, Cotter, Lakeview and Norfork. Salesville, Briarcliff and Big Flat 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 Baxter County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Baxter County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Mountain Home (13,348)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Baxter County each year?
Mountain Home reported 877 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,599 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Baxter County?
Look on the custody page of the Baxter County Sheriff's Office at baxtercountysheriff.com. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Baxter County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Baxter County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Baxter County?
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 Baxter County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Baxter County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 Baxter 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.