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 23, 2026.
Alachua County, Florida, has about 292,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and eight campus, state or other 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 State Attorney files charges, a case in the Alachua 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: Alachua County public records, Florida arrest records, Florida inmate search and Florida criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Alachua County
The Alachua County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Alachua County. It reported 1,094 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Alachua County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Gainesville, 148,720 residents: 2,163 arrests reported for 2025.
- Alachua, 10,856 residents.
- High Springs, 6,806 residents: 55 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 these agencies in Alachua County: the University of Florida and Santa Fe College (campus police); the Department of Corrections, Office of the Inspector General in Alachua County, the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco in Alachua County, the Alachua County Florida Game Commission, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement at Alachua and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Alachua County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Alachua 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.
- Gainesville: 2,163 for 2025, 1,950 for 2024, 1,771 for 2023 and 1,527 for 2022.
- Alachua County Sheriff's Office: 1,094 for 2025, 1,211 for 2024, 1,155 for 2023, 657 for 2022 and 494 for 2021.
- High Springs: 55 for 2025.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,312 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,257 in 2025 against 3,161 in 2024, up 3 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Alachua County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Alachua 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 880 people on an average day, up from about 720 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,155 beds, and it ran at 73 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 Alachua County Sheriff's Office at acso.us/inmate-search (page title: Inmate Search | ALACHUA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Florida Department of Corrections lists its inmates at fdc.myflorida.com.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Alachua County
Whether someone was arrested in Alachua County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Alachua County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at alachuacounty.us/Depts/Clerk/PublicRecords/pages/courtrecords.aspx).
Florida is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can run a name-based criminal history search online for $24, for $24 a search, through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. 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 Alachua 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 Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119) the agency must answer promptly and in good faith; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the copy fees set by statute, plus a special service charge for large requests.
- An arrest by the Alachua County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Gainesville, Alachua or High Springs: 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 University of Florida, Santa Fe College or the Department of Corrections, Office of the Inspector General in Alachua County: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Alachua County Circuit Court, through the court records page at alachuacounty.us.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at alachuacounty.us (page title: County Attorney).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Alachua County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the nine cities in Alachua County: Gainesville, Alachua and High Springs. Newberry, Hawthorne, Archer, Waldo, Micanopy and La Crosse 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 Alachua County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Alachua County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Gainesville (148,720)
- High Springs (6,806)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Alachua County each year?
Gainesville reported 2,163 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,312 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Alachua County?
Look on the custody page of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office at acso.us/inmate-search. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Alachua County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Alachua County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Alachua County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement: anyone can run a name-based criminal history search online for $24, for $24. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119).
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Alachua County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Alachua County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119) the answer is due promptly and in good faith; the statute sets no number of days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at alachuacounty.us.
Is this the official Alachua 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.