SearchSystems Editorial

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 4, 2026.

About this guide

Lake County, Indiana, has about 503,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lake County Sheriff's Office, 17 city agencies and two campus, state or other 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 Lake 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: Lake County public records, Indiana arrest records, Indiana inmate search and Indiana criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Lake County

The Lake County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lake County. It reported 888 arrests for 2025.

The FBI lists 17 cities in Lake County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • Hammond, 76,030 residents: 1,633 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Gary, 67,555 residents: 1,477 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Merrillville, 36,989 residents: 505 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Crown Point, 35,097 residents: 628 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Schererville, 29,780 residents: 840 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Hobart, 29,418 residents: 1,417 arrests reported for 2025.
  • East Chicago, 25,768 residents: 1,340 arrests reported for 2025.
  • St. John, 24,250 residents: 348 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Munster, 23,634 residents: 205 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Highland, 23,497 residents: 517 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Cedar Lake, 16,404 residents: 199 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Dyer, 16,341 residents: 294 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.

The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Lake County: Indiana University at Northwest (campus police); Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad (other).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lake 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.

  • Hammond: 1,633 for 2025, 1,431 for 2024, 1,447 for 2023, 1,256 for 2022, 1,169 for 2021 and 1,825 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
  • Gary: 1,477 for 2025, 1,118 for 2024 and 754 for 2023.
  • Hobart: 1,417 for 2025, 1,227 for 2024, 1,050 for 2023, 1,073 for 2022, 1,259 for 2021 and 1,338 for 2020.
  • East Chicago: 1,340 for 2025, 1,115 for 2024, 937 for 2023, 761 for 2022, 1,118 for 2021 and 1,817 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
  • New Chicago: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
  • Lake County Sheriff's Office: 888 for 2025, 746 for 2024, 634 for 2023, 686 for 2022, 655 for 2021 and 674 for 2020.
  • Schererville: 840 for 2025, 1,283 for 2024, 1,497 for 2023, 1,402 for 2022, 922 for 2021 and 763 for 2020.
  • Crown Point: 628 for 2025, 497 for 2024, 679 for 2023 and 780 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Griffith: 569 for 2025, 677 for 2024, 762 for 2022, 879 for 2021 and 1,162 for 2019; 2020 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Highland: 517 for 2025, 574 for 2024, 290 for 2023, 197 for 2022, 182 for 2021 and 200 for 2020.
  • Merrillville: 505 for 2025, 459 for 2023, 603 for 2020 and 699 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2024 are missing months.
  • St. John: 348 for 2025, 337 for 2024, 292 for 2023, 159 for 2021 and 165 for 2019; 2020 and 2022 are missing months.

Together, the 17 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 12,363 arrests that year. The 16 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 11,858 in 2025 against 11,278 in 2024, up 5.1 percent.

Through May 2026, the 13 agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,263 arrests, against 3,298 in the same months of 2025.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Lake County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Lake County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.

On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 890 people, up from about 800 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,050 beds, and it ran at 85 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 Lake County Sheriff's Office at lakecountysheriff.com/page.php?id=30 (page title: Lake County Sheriff | Lake County Sheriff), 2293 N. Main Street, Crown Point, IN 46307-1854, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.

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 Lake County

Whether someone was arrested in Lake County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Lake 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/help/mycase); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at lakecountyin.gov/departments/prosecutor, phone 219-755-3720).

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 Lake County

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 Lake County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Hammond, Gary, Merrillville, Crown Point, Schererville, Hobart 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.
  • An arrest by Indiana University at Northwest or Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 219-755-3720, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Lake Circuit and Superior Courts, through the court records page at in.gov/courts/help/mycase.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountyin.gov (page title: Public Records Request).
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in Lake County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 17 of the 19 cities in Lake County: the twelve named above and Griffith, Lake Station, Lowell, Whiting and New Chicago. Winfield and Schneider 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 Lake Circuit and Superior Courts.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lake 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 Lake County each year?

Hammond reported 1,633 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 17 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 12,363 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lake County?

Ask the Lake County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountysheriff.com/page.php?id=30.

Where are people arrested in Lake County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lake County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Lake 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 Lake County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Lake 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountyin.gov.

Is this the official Lake 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.