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 2, 2026.
DeKalb County, Illinois, has about 101,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, ten 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 DeKalb 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: DeKalb County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in DeKalb County
The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for DeKalb County. It reported 341 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists ten cities in DeKalb County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- DeKalb, 40,491 residents: 1,477 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sycamore, 18,968 residents: 301 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sandwich, 7,299 residents: 143 arrests reported for 2025.
- Genoa, 5,514 residents: 41 arrests reported for 2022.
- Cortland, 4,592 residents: 44 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hinckley, 1,976 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2025.
- Somonauk, 1,761 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Kirkland, 1,621 residents: 50 arrests reported for 2025.
- Waterman, 1,543 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2024.
- Kingston, 1,095 residents: 5 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 Maple Park Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including DeKalb County, so its arrests are not broken out for DeKalb County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in DeKalb County: Northern Illinois University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in DeKalb 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.
- DeKalb: 1,477 for 2025, 1,548 for 2024, 1,795 for 2023, 1,390 for 2022 and 1,232 for 2021.
- DeKalb County Sheriff's Office: 341 for 2025, 373 for 2024, 428 for 2023, 406 for 2022 and 450 for 2021.
- Sycamore: 301 for 2025, 271 for 2024, 258 for 2023, 308 for 2022 and 218 for 2021.
- Sandwich: 143 for 2025, 115 for 2024, 65 for 2023 and 82 for 2021; 2022 is missing months.
- Kirkland: 50 for 2025, 17 for 2024, 7 for 2023, 18 for 2022, 9 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Cortland: 44 for 2025, 36 for 2024, 51 for 2023, 29 for 2022, 29 for 2021 and 25 for 2020.
- Kingston: 5 for 2025, 3 for 2024, 1 for 2023, 1 for 2022 and 0 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Hinckley: 1 for 2025, 6 for 2024, 4 for 2023, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Somonauk: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 2 for 2022 and 0 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Genoa: 41 for 2022, 52 for 2021, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.
- Waterman: 2 for 2024.
Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,362 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,362 in 2025 against 2,369 in 2024, down 0.3 percent.
Through May 2026, the seven agencies with every month so far on file reported 901 arrests, against 940 in the same months of 2025.
Waterman reported only part of 2025 (5 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in DeKalb County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in DeKalb 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 120 people, up from about 100 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 140 beds, and it ran at 75 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office at dekalbsheriff.com (page title: DeKalb County Jail, IN Inmate Roster, Booking, Arrests, Warrants), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 DeKalb County
Whether someone was arrested in DeKalb County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court of DeKalb County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at dekalbgastatecourt.gov); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at dekalbcounty.org/departments/states-attorneys-office, phone 815-895-7164).
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 DeKalb 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 DeKalb County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in DeKalb, Sycamore, Sandwich, Genoa, Cortland, Hinckley or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Northern Illinois University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 815-895-7164, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of DeKalb County, through the court records page at dekalbgastatecourt.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at dekalbcounty.org (page title: Request for Public Records -- Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in DeKalb County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for ten of the 12 cities in DeKalb County: DeKalb, Sycamore, Sandwich, Genoa, Cortland, Hinckley, Somonauk, Kirkland, Waterman and Kingston. Malta and Shabbona 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 DeKalb County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in DeKalb County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Sycamore (18,968)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in DeKalb County each year?
DeKalb reported 1,477 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,362 between them.
Where are people arrested in DeKalb County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in DeKalb 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 DeKalb County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the DeKalb 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 dekalbcounty.org.
Is this the official DeKalb 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.