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 30, 2026.
Clinton County, Illinois, has about 37,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clinton County Sheriff's Office, nine city agencies and one campus 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 Clinton 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: Clinton County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clinton County
The Clinton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clinton County. It reported 171 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists nine cities in Clinton County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Breese, 4,629 residents: 5 arrests reported for 2025.
- New Baden, 3,395 residents: 46 arrests reported for 2025.
- Carlyle, 3,208 residents: 60 arrests reported for 2025.
- Trenton, 2,656 residents: 14 arrests reported for 2025.
- Aviston, 2,434 residents: 14 arrests reported for 2025.
- Germantown, 1,387 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Albers, 1,123 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2025.
- Wamac, 965 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Beckemeyer, 923 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2023.
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 Centralia Police Department is listed by the FBI across three counties including Clinton County, so its arrests are not broken out for Clinton County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Clinton County: Kaskaskia College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Clinton 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.
- Wamac: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Clinton County Sheriff's Office: 171 for 2025, 119 for 2024, 37 for 2023, 21 for 2022, 21 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Carlyle: 60 for 2025, 34 for 2024, 46 for 2023, 73 for 2022, 113 for 2021 and 16 for 2020.
- New Baden: 46 for 2025, 15 for 2024, 11 for 2023, 12 for 2022, 4 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Trenton: 14 for 2025, 20 for 2024, 17 for 2023, 27 for 2022, 19 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Aviston: 14 for 2025, 1 for 2024, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Breese: 5 for 2025, 6 for 2024, 1 for 2023, 8 for 2022, 14 for 2021 and 0 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Albers: 1 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 1 for 2022, 1 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Germantown: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 4 for 2023, 3 for 2022 and 0 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Beckemeyer: 0 for 2023, 1 for 2022 and 0 for 2021.
Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,463 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,463 in 2025 against 1,347 in 2024, up 8.6 percent.
Through June 2026, the nine agencies with every month so far on file reported 652 arrests, against 722 in the same months of 2025.
Beckemeyer reported only part of 2025 (8 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clinton County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Clinton 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 50 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 54 beds, and it ran at 93 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Clinton County
An arrest in Clinton County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Circuit Court of Clinton 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 clintonco.illinois.gov/county-offices/states-attorney, phone (618) 594-6645).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at clintoncountycourts.org/recordSearch.php (page title: Clinton County Clerk of Courts | Record Search), belongs to a lower court, not to the Circuit Court of Clinton 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 Clinton 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 Clinton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Breese, New Baden, Carlyle, Trenton, Aviston, Germantown or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Kaskaskia College: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (618) 594-6645, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Circuit Court of Clinton County it is kept by the Circuit Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at clintoncountycourts.org/recordSearch.php, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at clintonco.illinois.gov/foia-request (page title: FOIA Request | Clinton County, Illinois).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Clinton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for nine of the 14 cities in Clinton County: Breese, New Baden, Carlyle, Trenton, Aviston, Germantown, Albers, Wamac and Beckemeyer. Bartelso, Damiansville, St. Rose, Hoffman and Huey 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 Clinton County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clinton County each year?
Wamac reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,463 between them.
Where are people arrested in Clinton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clinton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clinton 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 Clinton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clinton 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 clintonco.illinois.gov/foia-request.
Is this the official Clinton 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.