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.
Hardin County, Illinois, has about 3,600 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hardin County Sheriff's Office. 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 Hardin 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: Hardin County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hardin County
The Hardin County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hardin County. It reported 1,152 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests The Hardin County Sheriff's Office Reports
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.
- Hardin County Sheriff's Office: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
Through September 2026, Hardin County Sheriff's Office reported 666 arrests, against 864 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hardin County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hardin 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 2024 the jail held about 72 people, up from about 3 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 6 beds, and it ran at 50 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 Hardin County Sheriff's Office at hardincountyil.org (page title: Hardin County, Illinois Jail Inmate Locator), 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 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 Hardin County
Whether someone was arrested in Hardin County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Hardin County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court of Hardin County, kept by the Circuit Clerk, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov/courts-directory/17/Hardin-County-Courthouse/court (page title: Hardin County Courthouse | State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts), phone (618) 287-2735, belongs to a lower court, not to the Circuit Court of Hardin 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 Hardin 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 Hardin County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Circuit Court of Hardin County it is kept by the Circuit Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov, phone (618) 287-2735, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Hardin County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Hardin County with an arrest reporting agency of its own; the counts above are the county agencies'.
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 Hardin County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hardin County each year?
The Hardin County Sheriff's Office reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Hardin County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hardin County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hardin 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 Hardin County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hardin 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 Hardin 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.