McDonough County Arrest Records: Who Makes Arrests, Where People Are Booked and How to Get the Report

Who Makes Arrests in McDonough County

The McDonough County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for McDonough County. It reported 0 arrests for 2020, its latest complete year.

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:

• Macomb, 14,765 residents: 89 arrests reported for 2024.
• Bushnell, 2,649 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
• Colchester, 1,082 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2022.
• Blandinsville, 550 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2020.

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 FBI's agency list also places one more agency in McDonough County: Western Illinois University (campus police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in McDonough 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.

• Bushnell: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
• Macomb: 89 for 2024 and 128 for 2023.
• Colchester: 0 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Blandinsville: 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.
• McDonough County Sheriff's Office: 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.

Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,241 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 1,241 in 2024 against 1,274 in 2023, down 2.6 percent.

Booking: Where People Arrested in McDonough County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in McDonough 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 2024 the jail held about 38 people, up from about 37 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 53 beds, and it ran at 70 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 McDonough County Sheriff's Office at ilsheriff.org/county/mcdonough (page title: McDonough County | Illinois Sheriffs' Association), phone (217) 753-2372, 110 South McArthur St., Macomb, IL 61455, 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 McDonough County

An arrest in McDonough County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Circuit Court of McDonough County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at illinoiscourts.gov/courts-directory/33/McDonough-County-Courthouse/..., phone (309) 837-4891); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at mcg.mcdonough.il.us/statesattorney.html, phone (309)837-2309).

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 McDonough 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 McDonough County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (217) 753-2372.
• An arrest in Macomb, Bushnell, Colchester or Blandinsville: 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 Western 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, (309)837-2309, handles discovery for pending cases.
• The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of McDonough County, through the court records page at illinoiscourts.gov, phone (309) 837-4891.
• Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.

Cities in McDonough County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the ten cities in McDonough County: Macomb, Bushnell, Colchester and Blandinsville. Prairie City, Industry, Good Hope, Bardolph, Tennessee and Sciota 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 McDonough County.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in McDonough County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

• Macomb (14,765)

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in McDonough County each year?

Bushnell reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in McDonough County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 1,241 between them.

Where are people arrested in McDonough County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the McDonough County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in McDonough 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 McDonough County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the McDonough 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 McDonough 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.