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.
McLean County, Illinois, has about 172,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the McLean County Sheriff's Office, 12 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 McLean 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: McLean County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in McLean County
The McLean County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for McLean County. It reported 606 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists 12 cities in McLean County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Bloomington, 79,232 residents: 1,871 arrests reported for 2025.
- Normal, 53,304 residents: 1,192 arrests reported for 2025.
- Le Roy, 3,495 residents: 68 arrests reported for 2025.
- Heyworth, 2,883 residents: 9 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lexington, 2,097 residents: 5 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hudson, 1,767 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2025.
- Chenoa, 1,699 residents: 11 arrests reported for 2025.
- Downs, 1,185 residents.
- Danvers, 1,077 residents: 5 arrests reported for 2025.
- Colfax, 985 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2024.
- McLean, 736 residents: 9 arrests reported for 2025.
- Stanford, 588 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2024.
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 McLean County: Illinois State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in McLean 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.
- Bloomington: 1,871 for 2025 and 1,602 for 2021; 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Normal: 1,192 for 2025, 1,161 for 2024, 1,147 for 2023, 982 for 2022 and 941 for 2021.
- McLean County Sheriff's Office: 606 for 2025, 607 for 2024, 510 for 2023, 414 for 2022 and 557 for 2021.
- Le Roy: 68 for 2025, 52 for 2024, 81 for 2023, 49 for 2022, 93 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Chenoa: 11 for 2025, 12 for 2024, 16 for 2023, 40 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Heyworth: 9 for 2025, 6 for 2024, 9 for 2023 and 10 for 2022.
- McLean: 9 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Danvers: 5 for 2025, 2 for 2024 and 0 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Lexington: 5 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 5 for 2023, 3 for 2022 and 0 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Hudson: 1 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Stanford: 1 for 2024, 6 for 2023, 8 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Colfax: 0 for 2024, 1 for 2023, 3 for 2021, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
Together, the ten agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,777 arrests that year. The nine of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,906 in 2025 against 1,850 in 2024, up 3 percent.
Through April 2026, the eight agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,363 arrests, against 1,193 in the same months of 2025.
Stanford and Colfax reported only part of 2025 (7 months and 7 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in McLean County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in McLean 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 200 people, down from about 230 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 436 beds, and it ran at 52 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 McLean County Sheriff's Office at mcleancountyil.gov/95/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff | McLean County, IL), phone (309) 888-5034, 104 W Front Street Bloomington, IL 61701, Monday - Friday 8:30 am - 4:30 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
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 McLean County
An arrest in McLean County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Circuit Court of McLean County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at mcleancountyil.gov/137/Court-Records-Search); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at mcleancountyil.gov/m/directory/department?did=28, phone (309) 888-5400).
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 McLean 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 McLean County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (309) 888-5034.
- An arrest in Bloomington, Normal, Le Roy, Heyworth, Lexington, Hudson 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 Illinois State 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) 888-5400, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of McLean County, through the court records page at mcleancountyil.gov/137/Court-Records-Search.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in McLean County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 12 of the 21 cities in McLean County: Bloomington, Normal, Le Roy, Heyworth, Lexington, Hudson, Chenoa, Downs, Danvers, Colfax, McLean and Stanford. Gridley, Saybrook, Carlock, Towanda, Bellflower, Arrowsmith, Ellsworth, Anchor and Cooksville 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 McLean County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in McLean County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Bloomington (79,232)
- Normal (53,304)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in McLean County each year?
Bloomington reported 1,871 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the ten agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,777 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in McLean County?
Ask the McLean County Sheriff's Office at (309) 888-5034; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at mcleancountyil.gov/95/Sheriff.
Where are people arrested in McLean County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the McLean County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in McLean 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 McLean County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the McLean 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 McLean 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.