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 September 28, 2026.
Carroll County, Illinois, has about 15,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office and seven 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 Carroll 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: Carroll County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Carroll County
The Carroll County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Carroll County. It reported 116 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists seven cities in Carroll County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Savanna, 2,713 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2019.
- Thomson, 1,595 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lanark, 1,463 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mount Carroll, 1,433 residents: 4 arrests reported for 2025.
- Milledgeville, 992 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2025.
- Shannon, 841 residents.
- Chadwick, 476 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 Each Agency Reports in Carroll 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.
- Chadwick: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Thomson: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Carroll County Sheriff's Office: 116 for 2025, 37 for 2024, 39 for 2023, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Mount Carroll: 4 for 2025, 13 for 2024, 3 for 2023 and 2 for 2022.
- Lanark: 2 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 1 for 2023, 5 for 2022 and 0 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Milledgeville: 1 for 2025, 1 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 1 for 2022 and 0 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Savanna: 0 for 2019.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,427 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,427 in 2025 against 2,360 in 2024, up 2.8 percent.
Through July 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,282 arrests, against 1,402 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Carroll County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Carroll 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.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 17 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 26 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 Carroll County Sheriff's Office at carrollcountyil.gov/county_departments/sheriff/index.php (page title: Carroll County, IL), phone 815-244-2635, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
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 Carroll County
Whether someone was arrested in Carroll County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Circuit Court of Carroll County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at carrollcountyil.gov/online_services/court_record_search.php, phone 815-244-0230); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at carrollcountyil.gov/county_departments/states_attorney.php, phone (815) 244-0290).
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 Carroll 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 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 Carroll County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 815-244-2635.
- An arrest in Savanna, Thomson, Lanark, Mount Carroll, Milledgeville, Shannon 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) 244-0290, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of Carroll County, through the court records page at carrollcountyil.gov, phone 815-244-0230.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at carrollcountyil.gov (page title: Carroll County, IL).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Carroll County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the seven cities in Carroll County: Savanna, Thomson, Lanark, Mount Carroll, Milledgeville, Shannon and Chadwick.
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 Carroll County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Carroll County each year?
Chadwick reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,427 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Carroll County?
Ask the Carroll County Sheriff's Office at 815-244-2635; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at carrollcountyil.gov.
Where are people arrested in Carroll County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Carroll 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 Carroll County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Carroll 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 carrollcountyil.gov.
Is this the official Carroll 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.