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 September 30, 2026.
Richland County, Illinois, has about 15,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Richland County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Richland 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: Richland County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Richland County
The Richland County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Richland County. It reported 127 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Richland County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Olney, 8,431 residents: 392 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 Richland 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.
- Olney: 392 for 2025, 398 for 2024, 427 for 2023 and 378 for 2022.
- Richland County Sheriff's Office: 127 for 2025 and 114 for 2024.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 519 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 519 in 2025 against 512 in 2024, up 1.4 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 196 arrests, against 253 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Richland County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Richland 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 2021 the jail held about 21 people, down from about 32 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 60 beds, and it ran at 53 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 Richland County Sheriff's Office at richlandcso.com/inmateSearch (page title: Richland County Sheriff’s Office IL), 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 Richland County
An arrest in Richland County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Richland County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court of Richland County, kept by the Circuit Clerk, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at richlandcounty.illinois.gov/states-attorney, phone (800) 243-0618).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov/courts-directory/106/Richland-County-Courthouse/... (page title: Richland County Courthouse | State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts), phone (618) 392-2151, belongs to a lower court, not to the Circuit Court of Richland 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 Richland 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 Richland County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Olney: 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, (800) 243-0618, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Circuit Court of Richland County it is kept by the Circuit Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov, phone (618) 392-2151, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Richland County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the five cities in Richland County: Olney. Noble, Parkersburg, Claremont and Calhoun 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 Richland County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Richland County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Olney (8,431)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Richland County each year?
Olney reported 392 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 519 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Richland County?
Look on the custody page of the Richland County Sheriff's Office at richlandcso.com/inmateSearch. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Richland County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Richland County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Richland 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 Richland County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Richland 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 Richland 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.