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.
Sangamon County, Illinois, has about 194,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office, 18 city agencies and six campus, state or other 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 Sangamon 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: Sangamon County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Sangamon County
The Sangamon County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Sangamon County. It reported 444 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists 18 cities in Sangamon County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:
- Springfield, 112,949 residents: 4,367 arrests reported for 2025.
- Chatham, 14,639 residents: 56 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sherman, 4,634 residents: 22 arrests reported for 2025.
- Auburn, 4,453 residents: 28 arrests reported for 2025.
- Rochester, 4,044 residents: 68 arrests reported for 2025.
- Riverton, 3,489 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pawnee, 2,698 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Jerome, 1,646 residents: 7 arrests reported for 2024.
- Southern View, 1,551 residents: 14 arrests reported for 2025.
- Williamsville, 1,441 residents.
- Leland Grove, 1,409 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2019.
- Grandview, 1,387 residents.
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 Virden Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Sangamon County, so its arrests are not broken out for Sangamon County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Sangamon County: the Springfield Park District and the Capitol Airport Authority (other); Lincoln Land Community College, Southern Illinois University at School of Medicine and the University of Illinois at Springfield (campus police); the Secretary of State Police (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Sangamon 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.
- Springfield: 4,367 for 2025, 4,214 for 2024, 3,554 for 2023, 3,021 for 2022 and 3,356 for 2021.
- Buffalo: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Sangamon County Sheriff's Office: 444 for 2025, 691 for 2024, 616 for 2023, 631 for 2022 and 469 for 2021.
- Rochester: 68 for 2025, 50 for 2024, 74 for 2023, 90 for 2022 and 145 for 2021.
- Chatham: 56 for 2025, 102 for 2024, 207 for 2023 and 191 for 2022.
- Auburn: 28 for 2025, 14 for 2024, 15 for 2023, 19 for 2022, 34 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Sherman: 22 for 2025, 4 for 2024, 7 for 2023, 2 for 2022 and 0 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Southern View: 14 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 6 for 2023, 33 for 2022, 51 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Thayer: 9 for 2025, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Riverton: 2 for 2025, 4 for 2024, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Pleasant Plains: 0 for 2025, 3 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Pawnee: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the 12 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 6,162 arrests that year. The 11 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 6,153 in 2025 against 6,239 in 2024, down 1.4 percent.
Through August 2026, the nine agencies with every month so far on file reported 992 arrests, against 1,230 in the same months of 2025.
Jerome, Loami, New Berlin and Divernon reported only part of 2025 (3 months, 10 months, 1 month and 3 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Sangamon County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Sangamon 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 2023 the jail held about 320 people, down from about 340 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 314 beds, and it ran at 103 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 Sangamon County Sheriff's Office at sangamonil.gov/departments/s-z/sheriff/inmate-roster (page title: Inmate Roster), 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 Sangamon County
An arrest in Sangamon County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court of Sangamon County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sangamonil.gov/courts); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at sangamonil.gov/departments/s-z/state-s-attorney, phone (217) 753-6690).
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 Sangamon 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 Sangamon County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Springfield, Chatham, Sherman, Auburn, Rochester, Riverton or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Springfield Park District, the Capitol Airport Authority or Lincoln Land Community College: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (217) 753-6690, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of Sangamon County, through the court records page at sangamonil.gov/courts.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sangamoncountycircuitclerk.org (page title: Sangamon County Records).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Sangamon County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 18 of the 25 cities in Sangamon County: the twelve named above and New Berlin, Divernon, Pleasant Plains, Loami, Thayer and Buffalo. Illiopolis, Spaulding, Mechanicsburg, Dawson, Curran, Berlin and Cantrall 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 Sangamon County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Sangamon County each year?
Springfield reported 4,367 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 12 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 6,162 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Sangamon County?
Look on the custody page of the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office at sangamonil.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Sangamon County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Sangamon 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 Sangamon County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Sangamon 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sangamoncountycircuitclerk.org.
Is this the official Sangamon 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.