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 on September 23, 2026.
Livingston County, Illinois, has about 35,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Livingston County Sheriff's Office and three 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 Livingston 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: Livingston County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Livingston County
The Livingston County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Livingston County. It reported 150 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Livingston County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Pontiac, 11,054 residents: 322 arrests reported for 2025.
- Dwight, 4,032 residents: 17 arrests reported for 2024.
- Fairbury, 3,571 residents: 45 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 Streator Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Livingston County, so its arrests are not broken out for Livingston County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Livingston County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Pontiac: 322 for 2025, 390 for 2024 and 460 for 2023.
- Livingston County Sheriff's Office: 150 for 2025, 226 for 2024 and 213 for 2023.
- Fairbury: 45 for 2025, 72 for 2024, 63 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Dwight: 17 for 2024, 27 for 2023, 38 for 2022, 49 for 2021, 4 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 517 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 517 in 2025 against 688 in 2024, down 25 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 350 arrests, against 286 in the same months of 2025.
Dwight reported only part of 2025 (9 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Livingston County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Livingston 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 140 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 188 beds, and it ran at 77 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 Livingston County Sheriff's Office at livcoso.org/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_time=desc/1 (page title: Inmate Roster | Livingston County Sheriff's Office | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Livingston County
Whether someone was arrested in Livingston County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Livingston County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court of Livingston County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at livingstoncountyil.gov/department/circuit_clerk/index.php, phone 815-844-2602); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at livingstoncountyil.gov/department/states_attorney/index.php, phone 815-844-5169).
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 Livingston 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 Livingston County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Pontiac, Dwight or Fairbury: 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, 815-844-5169, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of Livingston County, through the court records page at livingstoncountyil.gov, phone 815-844-2602.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Livingston County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the 14 cities in Livingston County: Pontiac, Dwight and Fairbury. Chatsworth, Flanagan, Forrest, Odell, Cullom, Cornell, Saunemin, Long Point, Campus, Strawn and Emington 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 Livingston County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Livingston County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Pontiac (11,054)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Livingston County each year?
Pontiac reported 322 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 517 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Livingston County?
Look on the custody page of the Livingston County Sheriff's Office at livcoso.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Livingston County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Livingston County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Livingston 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 Livingston County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Livingston 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 Livingston 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.