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 between September 24, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Union County, Arkansas, has about 37,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Union County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and two state agencies. 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 Union 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: Union County public records, Arkansas arrest records, Arkansas inmate search and Arkansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Union County
The Union County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Union County. It reported 261 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Union County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- El Dorado, 16,657 residents: 1,056 arrests reported for 2025.
- Smackover, 1,573 residents: 27 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 these agencies in Union County: the State Park at Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources and the State Park at South Arkansas Arboretum State Park (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Union 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.
- El Dorado: 1,056 for 2025, 1,424 for 2024, 1,147 for 2023, 1,019 for 2022, 971 for 2021 and 802 for 2020.
- Union County Sheriff's Office: 261 for 2025, 288 for 2024, 294 for 2023, 190 for 2022, 274 for 2021 and 289 for 2020.
- Smackover: 27 for 2024 and 28 for 2023.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,317 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,317 in 2025 against 1,712 in 2024, down 23 percent.
Smackover reported only part of 2025 (9 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Union County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Union 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 160 people, down from about 190 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 213 beds, and it ran at 88 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 Union County Sheriff's Office at unioncountysheriff.net/inmateRoster (page title: Union County Sheriff’s Office AR), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Union County
An arrest in Union County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Union County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Union County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at unioncountyar.com/circuit-clerk.php, phone (870) 864-1940); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at arkprosecutor13.com/staff.php, phone 870-864-1960).
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 Union 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 Union County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in El Dorado or Smackover: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Park at Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources or the State Park at South Arkansas Arboretum State Park: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 870-864-1960, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Union County Circuit Court, through the court records page at unioncountyar.com/circuit-clerk.php, phone (870) 864-1940.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau.
Cities in Union County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the eight cities in Union County: El Dorado and Smackover. Norphlet, Junction City, Huttig, Calion, Strong and Felsenthal 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 Union County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Union County each year?
El Dorado reported 1,056 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,317 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Union County?
Look on the custody page of the Union County Sheriff's Office at unioncountysheriff.net/inmateRoster. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Union County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Union County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Union 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 Union County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Union 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 Union 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.