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 October 2, 2026.
Nappanee, Indiana, in Elkhart County, has about 6,900 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 Elkhart 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: Nappanee public records, Elkhart County arrest records, Indiana arrest records and Indiana inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Nappanee
The FBI lists Nappanee with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Nappanee Police Department. It reported 196 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 Elkhart County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,791 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Nappanee Reports
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.
- Nappanee: 196 for 2025, 178 for 2024, 314 for 2023, 326 for 2022 and 103 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
Nappanee's 196 arrests in 2025 were up 10 percent from 178 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Nappanee reported 73 arrests, against 116 in the same months of 2025.
Across Elkhart County, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,578 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Nappanee Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Nappanee 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 880 people, up from about 870 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 960 beds, and it ran at 82 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 Elkhart County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.elkhartcounty.com/en/divisions/corrections-resources (page title: Corrections | Elkhart County Sheriff's Office), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Indiana Department of Correction lists its inmates at offenderlocator.idoc.in.gov/idoc-ofs-1.0.2/ofs.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Nappanee
For Nappanee the place to look is the case index of the Elkhart Circuit and Superior Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at in.gov/courts/local/elkhart-county).
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 Nappanee
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 Nappanee police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at nappanee.in.gov/government/departments/police-department/department... (page title: Office Staff Unit | Nappanee, IN), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Elkhart County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Elkhart Circuit and Superior Courts, through the court records page at in.gov/courts/local/elkhart-county.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Elkhart County guide covers every agency in the county: Elkhart County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Nappanee each year?
Nappanee reported 196 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Nappanee booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Elkhart County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Nappanee?
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 Nappanee?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Nappanee police for its own arrests, the Elkhart 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 Nappanee 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.