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 23, 2026 and September 25, 2026.
Sterling, Illinois, in Whiteside County, has about 15,000 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 State's Attorney files charges, a case in the Circuit Court of Whiteside County. 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: Sterling public records, Whiteside County arrest records, Illinois arrest records and Illinois inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Sterling
The FBI lists Sterling with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Sterling Police Department. It reported 395 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 Whiteside County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 117 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Sterling 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.
- Sterling: 395 for 2025, 448 for 2024, 451 for 2023 and 425 for 2022.
Sterling's 395 arrests in 2025 were down 12 percent from 448 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Sterling reported 196 arrests, against 228 in the same months of 2025.
Across Whiteside County, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,958 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Sterling Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Sterling 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 54 people, down from about 71 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 129 beds, and it ran at 41 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Illinois Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at idoc.illinois.gov/offender/inmatesearch.html.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Sterling
For Sterling the place to look is the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at whitesidecountyil.gov/295/States-Attorney, phone 815-772-5194).
Illinois is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act, through the Illinois 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 Sterling
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 Illinois Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension, and it may charge copying only after the first 50 pages.
- An arrest by the Sterling police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at sterling-il.gov/236/Freedom-of-Information-Request (page title: Freedom of Information Request | Sterling, IL), phone 815-632-6630, 500 S 2nd Street Springfield, IL 62706, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Whiteside County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 815-772-5194, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
The Whiteside County guide covers every agency in the county: Whiteside County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Sterling each year?
Sterling reported 395 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Sterling booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Whiteside County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Sterling?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Sterling?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Sterling police for its own arrests, the Whiteside County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension.
Is this the official Sterling 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.