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.
White County, Illinois, has about 13,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the White County Sheriff's Office and four 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 White 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: White County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in White County
The White County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for White County. It reported 89 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in White County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Carmi, 4,679 residents: 166 arrests reported for 2025.
- Grayville, 1,502 residents: 32 arrests reported for 2024.
- Norris City, 1,100 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Enfield, 778 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 White 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.
- Enfield: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Carmi: 166 for 2025 and 132 for 2024.
- White County Sheriff's Office: 89 for 2025 and 86 for 2024.
- Norris City: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023 and 0 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Grayville: 32 for 2024, 21 for 2023, 35 for 2022, 36 for 2021 and 0 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,407 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,407 in 2025 against 1,370 in 2024, up 2.7 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 751 arrests, against 842 in the same months of 2025.
Grayville reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in White County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in White 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 2019 the jail held about 27 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 32 beds, and it ran at 83 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 White County Sheriff's Office at wcsheriff-in.us (page title: White County Sheriff's Department), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 White County
Whether someone was arrested in White County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Circuit Court of White County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at whitecounty-il.gov/circuit-clerk, phone 877-342-7891); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at whitesidecountyil.gov/295/States-Attorney, phone 815-772-5194).
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 White 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 White County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Carmi, Grayville, Norris City or Enfield: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 815-772-5194, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of White County, through the court records page at whitecounty-il.gov/circuit-clerk, phone 877-342-7891.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in White County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the ten cities in White County: Carmi, Grayville, Norris City and Enfield. Crossville, Mill Shoals, Springerton, Maunie, Phillipstown and Burnt Prairie 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 White County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in White County each year?
Enfield reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,407 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in White County?
Ask the White County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at wcsheriff-in.us.
Where are people arrested in White County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the White County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in White 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 White County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the White 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 White 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.