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 9, 2026.
Lawrence County, Indiana, has about 45,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office and two 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 Lawrence 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: Lawrence County public records, Indiana arrest records, Indiana inmate search and Indiana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lawrence County
The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lawrence County. It reported 305 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Bedford, 13,853 residents: 262 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mitchell, 3,964 residents: 1,152 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 Lawrence 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.
- Mitchell: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Bedford: 262 for 2025, 305 for 2023, 411 for 2022, 456 for 2021, 805 for 2020 and 1,711 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Lawrence County Sheriff's Office: 305 for 2024, 300 for 2023, 334 for 2022 and 1,214 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,414 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,152 in 2025 against 1,152 in 2024.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 684 arrests, against 701 in the same months of 2025.
Lawrence County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (9 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lawrence County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lawrence 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 75 people, down from about 170 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 180 beds, and it ran at 93 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 Lawrence County Sheriff's Office at lawrencecounty.in.gov/219/Inmate-Information (page title: Inmate Information | Lawrence County, IN), phone 866-340-7879, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 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 Lawrence County
An arrest in Lawrence County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Lawrence 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/lawrence-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 Lawrence 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 Lawrence County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 866-340-7879.
- An arrest in Bedford or Mitchell: 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 Lawrence Circuit and Superior Courts, through the court records page at in.gov/courts/local/lawrence-county.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at indy.gov (page title: ).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Lawrence County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Lawrence County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Lawrence County: Bedford and Mitchell. Oolitic has 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 Lawrence Circuit and Superior Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lawrence County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Bedford (13,853)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lawrence County each year?
Mitchell reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,414 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lawrence County?
Look on the custody page of the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office at lawrencecounty.in.gov/219/Inmate-Information, or call 866-340-7879. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Lawrence County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lawrence 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 Lawrence County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lawrence 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 indy.gov.
Is this the official Lawrence 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.