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.
Whiteside County, Illinois, has about 55,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Whiteside County Sheriff's Office and eight 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 Whiteside 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: Whiteside County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Whiteside County
The Whiteside County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Whiteside County. It reported 117 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside eight 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:
- Sterling, 14,535 residents: 395 arrests reported for 2025.
- Rock Falls, 8,614 residents: 232 arrests reported for 2025.
- Morrison, 3,988 residents: 22 arrests reported for 2025.
- Fulton, 3,581 residents: 40 arrests reported for 2025.
- Prophetstown, 1,906 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2023.
- Erie, 1,491 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2024.
- Albany, 851 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2019.
- Tampico, 675 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 Whiteside County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Tampico: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Sterling: 395 for 2025, 448 for 2024, 451 for 2023 and 425 for 2022.
- Rock Falls: 232 for 2025, 278 for 2024, 353 for 2023 and 297 for 2022.
- Whiteside County Sheriff's Office: 117 for 2025, 72 for 2024, 105 for 2023 and 145 for 2022.
- Fulton: 40 for 2025, 40 for 2024, 37 for 2023, 44 for 2022, 27 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Morrison: 22 for 2025, 15 for 2023, 26 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
- Erie: 8 for 2024, 10 for 2023, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Albany: 0 for 2019.
- Prophetstown: 0 for 2023, 6 for 2022, 5 for 2021 and 0 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,958 arrests that year. The five of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,936 in 2025 against 1,990 in 2024, down 2.7 percent.
Through July 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 993 arrests, against 1,035 in the same months of 2025.
Erie and Prophetstown reported only part of 2025 (5 months and 1 month) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Whiteside County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Whiteside 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 54 people, down from about 71 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 129 beds, and it ran at 41 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Whiteside County
For Whiteside County the place to look is 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 Whiteside 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 Whiteside County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Sterling, Rock Falls, Morrison, Fulton, Prophetstown, Erie 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.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 815-772-5194, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Whiteside County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for eight of the 11 cities in Whiteside County: Sterling, Rock Falls, Morrison, Fulton, Prophetstown, Erie, Albany and Tampico. Lyndon, Coleta and Deer Grove 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 Whiteside County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Whiteside County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Sterling (14,535)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Whiteside County each year?
Tampico reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,958 between them.
Where are people arrested in Whiteside County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Whiteside County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Whiteside 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 Whiteside County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Whiteside 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 Whiteside 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.