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 2024. 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.
Charlestown, Indiana, in Clark County, has about 8,600 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 Clark 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: Charlestown public records, Clark County arrest records, Indiana arrest records and Indiana inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Charlestown
The FBI lists Charlestown with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Charlestown Police Department. It reported 453 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year. 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 Clark County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 567 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Charlestown 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.
- Charlestown: 453 for 2024, 223 for 2022 and 197 for 2021; 2023 is missing months.
Across Clark County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2022 on file reported 1,752 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Charlestown Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Charlestown 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 440 people, down from about 620 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 694 beds, and it ran at 69 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 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 Charlestown
Whether someone was arrested in Charlestown, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Clark Circuit and Superior Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at clarkcounty.in.gov/~ccounty/index.php/clark-county-indiana-resident...); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at clarkcounty.in.gov/index.php/clark-county-indiana-government/clark-..., phone 812.285.6264).
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 Charlestown
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Charlestown police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at ctownpd.com/divisions-units/records (page title: Records Division | CHPD), phone 812-256-7136, 703 Main Street, Charlestown, IN 47111, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Clark County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 812.285.6264, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Clark Circuit and Superior Courts, through the court records page at clarkcounty.in.gov.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Clark County guide covers every agency in the county: Clark County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Charlestown each year?
Charlestown reported 453 arrests to the FBI for 2024, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Charlestown booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clark County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Charlestown?
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 Charlestown?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Charlestown police for its own arrests, the Clark 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.
Is this the official Charlestown 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.