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 between September 23, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Elkhart County, Indiana, has about 207,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Elkhart 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 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 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: Elkhart County public records, Indiana arrest records, Indiana inmate search and Indiana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Elkhart County
The Elkhart County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Elkhart County. It reported 1,791 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Elkhart County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Elkhart, 53,690 residents: 1,338 arrests reported for 2025.
- Goshen, 34,458 residents: 1,015 arrests reported for 2025.
- Nappanee, 6,902 residents: 196 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bristol, 1,805 residents: 238 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 Elkhart 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.
- Elkhart County Sheriff's Office: 1,791 for 2025, 1,515 for 2024, 1,106 for 2023 and 708 for 2022.
- Elkhart: 1,338 for 2025, 1,240 for 2024, 2,211 for 2023, 1,844 for 2022, 1,788 for 2021 and 1,282 for 2020.
- Goshen: 1,015 for 2025, 961 for 2024, 963 for 2023, 760 for 2022, 719 for 2021 and 407 for 2020.
- Bristol: 238 for 2025, 107 for 2024, 139 for 2023, 144 for 2022 and 88 for 2021.
- Nappanee: 196 for 2025, 178 for 2024, 314 for 2023, 326 for 2022 and 103 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,578 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,578 in 2025 against 4,001 in 2024, up 14 percent.
Through April 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,295 arrests, against 810 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Elkhart County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Elkhart 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 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 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 Elkhart County
For Elkhart County 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 Elkhart 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 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 Elkhart County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Elkhart, Goshen, Nappanee or Bristol: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- 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.
Cities in Elkhart County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the seven cities in Elkhart County: Elkhart, Goshen, Nappanee and Bristol. Middlebury, Wakarusa and Millersburg 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 Elkhart Circuit and Superior Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Elkhart County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Elkhart County each year?
The Elkhart County Sheriff's Office reported 1,791 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,578 between them.
Where are people arrested in Elkhart County 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 Elkhart County?
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 Elkhart County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Elkhart County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 Elkhart 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.