SearchSystems Editorial

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 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.

About this guide

Lee County, Florida, has about 861,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lee County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and 11 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 Lee 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: Lee County public records, Florida arrest records, Florida inmate search and Florida criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Lee County

The Lee County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lee County. It reported 13,047 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside three of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:

  • Cape Coral, 233,025 residents: 2,654 arrests reported for 2022.
  • Fort Myers, 99,918 residents: 2,238 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Sanibel, 6,358 residents: 131 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 Lee County: the Lee County Port Authority (other); the Department of Law Enforcement at Lee County, Fort Myers, the Department of Environmental Protection, Law Enforcement in Lee County, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement at Lee, the Lee County Florida Game Commission and three more (state agency); Florida Gulf Coast University and Florida Southwestern State College (campus police); the Highway Patrol in Lee County (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lee 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.

  • Lee County Sheriff's Office: 13,047 for 2025.
  • Fort Myers: 2,238 for 2025, 2,529 for 2024, 2,725 for 2023, 2,412 for 2022 and 1,887 for 2021.
  • Sanibel: 131 for 2025.
  • Cape Coral: 2,654 for 2022.

Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 15,416 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,238 in 2025 against 2,529 in 2024, down 12 percent.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Lee County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Lee 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.

So far in 2026 the jail has held about 1,580 people on an average day, down from about 1,710 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 2,009 beds, and it ran at 77 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.

SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Lee County Sheriff's Office at sheriffleefl.org/arrest-search (page title: Arrest Search | Lee County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.

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 Lee County

An arrest in Lee County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Lee County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at matrix.leeclerk.org); the State Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at sao20.org, phone (941) 637-2104).

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 Lee County

An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Lee County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Cape Coral, Fort Myers or Sanibel: 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 Lee County Port Authority, the Department of Law Enforcement at Lee County, Fort Myers or Florida Gulf Coast University: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State Attorney, (941) 637-2104, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Lee County Circuit Court, through the court records page at matrix.leeclerk.org.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at leegov.com/publicrecords (page title: Public Records Request Center).
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

The other Lee County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.

Cities in Lee County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the six cities in Lee County: Cape Coral, Fort Myers and Sanibel. Bonita Springs, Estero and Fort Myers Beach 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 Lee County Circuit Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lee County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Lee County each year?

The Lee County Sheriff's Office reported 13,047 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 15,416 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lee County?

Ask the Lee County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriffleefl.org/arrest-search.

Where are people arrested in Lee County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lee County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Lee 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 Lee County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Lee 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 leegov.com/publicrecords.

Is this the official Lee 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.