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 4, 2026.
Bureau County, Illinois, has about 32,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Bureau County Sheriff's Office and ten city 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's Attorney files charges, a case in the Circuit Court of Bureau 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: Bureau County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Bureau County
The Bureau County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Bureau County. It reported 5 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside ten 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:
- Princeton, 7,667 residents: 42 arrests reported for 2025.
- Spring Valley, 5,404 residents: 75 arrests reported for 2025.
- De Pue, 1,573 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ladd, 1,387 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
- Walnut, 1,265 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- La Moille, 670 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Buda, 465 residents: 10 arrests reported for 2023.
- Cherry, 420 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Neponset, 408 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bureau Junction, 278 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.
The Peru Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Bureau County, so its arrests are not broken out for Bureau County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Bureau 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.
- De Pue: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Walnut: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- La Moille: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Bureau Junction: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Neponset: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Spring Valley: 75 for 2025, 90 for 2024, 98 for 2023 and 67 for 2022.
- Princeton: 42 for 2025, 95 for 2024, 63 for 2023, 63 for 2022, 78 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Bureau County Sheriff's Office: 5 for 2025, 9 for 2024, 22 for 2023, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Ladd: 3 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Cherry: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 2 for 2023 and 0 for 2022.
- Buda: 10 for 2023 and 2 for 2022.
Together, the ten agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,885 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,885 in 2025 against 5,954 in 2024, down 1.2 percent.
Through August 2026, the eight agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,340 arrests, against 3,914 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Bureau County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Bureau 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.
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 25 people, up from about 22 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 34 beds, and it ran at 65 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 Bureau County Sheriff's Office at bureaucounty-il.gov/sheriffs-department-directory (page title: Sheriff’s Department Directory | Bureau County, Illinois), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Illinois Department of Corrections lists its inmates at idoc.illinois.gov/offender/inmatesearch.html.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Bureau County
Whether someone was arrested in Bureau County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Circuit Court of Bureau County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at bureaucounty-il.gov/directory/circuit-clerk, phone (815) 872-2001); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at bureaucounty-il.gov/directory/states-attorney, phone 815-879-4941).
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 Bureau 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 Bureau County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Princeton, Spring Valley, De Pue, Ladd, Walnut, La Moille or another of the cities listed above: 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, 815-879-4941, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of Bureau County, through the court records page at bureaucounty-il.gov/directory/circuit-clerk, phone (815) 872-2001.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at circuitclerk.bureaucounty-il.gov (page title: Copy Requests | Bureau County Circuit Clerk).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Bureau County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for ten of the 23 cities in Bureau County: Princeton, Spring Valley, De Pue, Ladd, Walnut, La Moille, Buda, Cherry, Neponset and Bureau Junction. Wyanet, Sheffield, Tiskilwa, Dalzell, Ohio, Seatonville, Malden, Manlius, Mineral, Arlington, Dover, New Bedford and one more 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 Bureau County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Bureau County each year?
De Pue reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the ten agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,885 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Bureau County?
Ask the Bureau County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at bureaucounty-il.gov.
Where are people arrested in Bureau County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bureau County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Bureau 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 Bureau County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Bureau 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at circuitclerk.bureaucounty-il.gov.
Is this the official Bureau 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.