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. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Alexander County, Illinois, has about 4,600 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Alexander County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 State's Attorney files charges, a case in the Circuit Court of Alexander County. 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: Alexander County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Alexander County
The Alexander County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Alexander County. It reported 90 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Alexander County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Cairo, 1,523 residents: 1,152 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.
How Many Arrests Cairo Reports
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.
- Cairo: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Alexander County Sheriff's Office: 90 for 2023.
Through September 2026, Cairo reported 666 arrests, against 864 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Alexander County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Alexander 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.
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 Alexander County
An arrest in Alexander County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Circuit Court of Alexander County, kept by the Circuit Clerk, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at alexandercounty.illinois.gov/cat_team/states-attorney).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov/courts-directory/139/Alexander-County-Courthouse... (page title: Alexander County Courthouse | State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts), phone (618) 734-0107, belongs to a lower court, not to the Circuit Court of Alexander County.
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 Alexander 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 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 Alexander County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Cairo: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Circuit Court of Alexander County it is kept by the Circuit Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov, phone (618) 734-0107, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Alexander County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the five cities in Alexander County: Cairo. Tamms, East Cape Girardeau, McClure and Thebes 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 Circuit Court of Alexander County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Alexander County each year?
Cairo reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Alexander County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Alexander County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Alexander County?
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 Alexander County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Alexander County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension.
Is this the official Alexander 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.