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.
Crawford County, Illinois, has about 18,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Crawford County Sheriff's Office and four 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 Crawford 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: Crawford County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Crawford County
The Crawford County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Crawford County. It reported 0 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside four 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:
- Robinson, 7,053 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Oblong, 1,349 residents: 5 arrests reported for 2025.
- Palestine, 1,207 residents: 6 arrests reported for 2024.
- Hutsonville, 471 residents.
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 Crawford 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.
- Oblong: 5 for 2025, 15 for 2024, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Robinson: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023 and 26 for 2022.
- Crawford County Sheriff's Office: 0 for 2025, 1 for 2024, 22 for 2023, 33 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Palestine: 6 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5 in 2025 against 16 in 2024.
Palestine reported only part of 2025 (2 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Crawford County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Crawford 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 2021 the jail held about 33 people, up from about 29 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 33 beds, and it ran at 88 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 Crawford County Sheriff's Office at crawfordcountysheriff.org/inmates (page title: Inmates | Crawford County Sheriff), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Crawford County
An arrest in Crawford County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Circuit Court of Crawford County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at illinoiscourts.gov/courts-directory/84/Crawford-County-Courthouse/c..., phone (618) 544-3512); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at crawfordcounty.illinois.gov/department/states-attorney, phone 618-546-1505).
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 Crawford 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 Crawford County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Robinson, Oblong, Palestine or Hutsonville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 618-546-1505, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of Crawford County, through the court records page at illinoiscourts.gov, phone (618) 544-3512.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Crawford County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the six cities in Crawford County: Robinson, Oblong, Palestine and Hutsonville. Flat Rock and Stoy 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 Crawford County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Crawford County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Robinson (7,053)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Crawford County each year?
Oblong reported 5 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Crawford County?
Ask the Crawford County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at crawfordcountysheriff.org/inmates.
Where are people arrested in Crawford County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Crawford County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Crawford 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 Crawford County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Crawford 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 Crawford 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.