Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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.
Carmel, Indiana, in Hamilton County, has about 104,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Hamilton Circuit and Superior Courts. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Carmel public records, Hamilton County arrest records, Indiana arrest records and Indiana inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Carmel
The FBI lists Carmel with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Carmel Police Department. It reported 1,531 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,028 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Carmel Reports
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.
- Carmel: 1,531 for 2025, 1,673 for 2024, 1,833 for 2023, 1,415 for 2022, 1,122 for 2021 and 1,177 for 2020.
Carmel's 1,531 arrests in 2025 were down 8.5 percent from 1,673 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Carmel reported 940 arrests, against 949 in the same months of 2025.
Across Hamilton County, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 6,053 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Carmel Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Carmel 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 360 people, down from about 370 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 506 beds, and it ran at 65 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 Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at hamiltoncounty.in.gov/609/Lookup-Current-Inmates (page title: Lookup Current Inmates | Hamilton County, IN), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Indiana Department of Correction, whose inmate locator is at offenderlocator.idoc.in.gov/idoc-ofs-1.0.2/ofs.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Carmel
Whether someone was arrested in Carmel, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Hamilton Circuit and Superior Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncounty.in.gov/189/Courts, phone 317-776-8282); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at hamiltoncounty.in.gov/477/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 317-776-8595).
Statewide, mycase.IN.gov is the Indiana courts' free statewide case search.
Indiana is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Limited Criminal History search is open to anyone online, through the Indiana 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 Carmel
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 Indiana Access to Public Records Act the agency must answer within 24 hours for a request made in person and 7 days for one sent by mail or email, and it may charge a copy fee set by the agency, within statutory limits.
- An arrest by the Carmel police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at carmel.in.gov/263/Forms (page title: Forms | Carmel, IN), phone 317-571-2472, 1000 S. Rangeline Road Carmel, IN 46032, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 317-776-8595, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Hamilton Circuit and Superior Courts, through the court records page at hamiltoncounty.in.gov/189/Courts, phone 317-776-8282.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncountyin.nextrequest.com (page title: Open Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Hamilton County guide covers every agency in the county: Hamilton County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Carmel each year?
Carmel reported 1,531 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Carmel?
Look on the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at hamiltoncounty.in.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Carmel booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Carmel?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Indiana State Police: the Limited Criminal History search is open to anyone online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Carmel?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Carmel police for its own arrests, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act the answer is due within 24 hours for a request made in person and 7 days for one sent by mail or email; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncountyin.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Carmel website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.