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.
Macoupin County, Illinois, has about 44,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Macoupin County Sheriff's Office and nine 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 Macoupin 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: Macoupin County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Macoupin County
The Macoupin County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Macoupin County. It reported 32 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists nine cities in Macoupin County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Carlinville, 5,582 residents: 27 arrests reported for 2025.
- Staunton, 4,935 residents.
- Virden, 3,147 residents: 9 arrests reported for 2025.
- Gillespie, 3,087 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2019.
- Brighton, 2,164 residents: 7 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mount Olive, 1,941 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2019.
- Girard, 1,770 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bunker Hill, 1,591 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2019.
- Palmyra, 592 residents: 1,152 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Macoupin 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.
- Girard: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Palmyra: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Macoupin County Sheriff's Office: 32 for 2025, 44 for 2024, 23 for 2023, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Carlinville: 27 for 2025, 49 for 2024, 91 for 2023, 112 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Virden: 9 for 2025, 9 for 2024, 24 for 2023, 33 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Brighton: 7 for 2025 and 0 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Bunker Hill: 0 for 2019.
- Gillespie: 0 for 2019.
- Mount Olive: 0 for 2019.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,379 arrests that year. The five of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,372 in 2025 against 2,406 in 2024, down 1.4 percent.
Through March 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 560 arrests, against 593 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Macoupin County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Macoupin 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 2019 the jail held about 66 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 97 beds, and it ran at 68 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 Macoupin County Sheriff's Office at macoupincountyil.gov/ova_sev/county-sheriff (page title: County Sheriff | Macoupin County), phone 866-340-7879, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Macoupin County
For Macoupin County the place to look is the case index of the Circuit Court of Macoupin 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/30/Macoupin-County-Courthouse/c... (page title: Macoupin County Courthouse | State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts), phone (217) 854-7361, belongs to a lower court, not to the Circuit Court of Macoupin 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 Macoupin 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 Macoupin County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 866-340-7879.
- An arrest in Carlinville, Staunton, Virden, Gillespie, Brighton, Mount Olive or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Circuit Court of Macoupin County it is kept by the Circuit Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov, phone (217) 854-7361, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Macoupin County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for nine of the 27 cities in Macoupin County: Carlinville, Staunton, Virden, Gillespie, Brighton, Mount Olive, Girard, Bunker Hill and Palmyra. Benld, Wilsonville, Shipman, Medora, Mount Clare, Sawyerville, East Gillespie, White City, Lake Ka-Ho, Nilwood, Modesto, Royal Lakes and six more 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 Macoupin County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Macoupin County each year?
Girard reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,379 between them.
Where are people arrested in Macoupin County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Macoupin County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Macoupin 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 Macoupin County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Macoupin 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 Macoupin 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.