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 September 30, 2026.
Tippecanoe County, Indiana, has about 192,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and one campus agency. 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 Tippecanoe 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: Tippecanoe County public records, Indiana arrest records, Indiana inmate search and Indiana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Tippecanoe County
The Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Tippecanoe County. It reported 981 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists four cities in Tippecanoe County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Lafayette, 71,757 residents: 2,906 arrests reported for 2025.
- West Lafayette, 46,338 residents: 1,069 arrests reported for 2025.
- Dayton, 1,372 residents: 27 arrests reported for 2024.
- Clarks Hill, 619 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.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Tippecanoe County: Purdue University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Tippecanoe 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.
- Lafayette: 2,906 for 2025, 3,435 for 2024, 3,657 for 2023 and 3,747 for 2022.
- Clarks Hill: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- West Lafayette: 1,069 for 2025, 898 for 2024, 1,078 for 2023, 707 for 2022, 394 for 2021 and 1,097 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office: 981 for 2024, 806 for 2022 and 1,125 for 2020; 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Dayton: 27 for 2024 and 25 for 2022; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,127 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,127 in 2025 against 5,485 in 2024, down 6.5 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,999 arrests, against 2,887 in the same months of 2025.
Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office and Dayton reported only part of 2025 (10 months and 9 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Tippecanoe County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Tippecanoe 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 550 people, up from about 520 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 603 beds, and it ran at 84 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 Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office at tippecanoe.in.gov/466/Corrections (page title: Corrections | Tippecanoe County, IN), phone 765-423-9388, 2640 Duncan Road Lafayette, IN 47904, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
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 Tippecanoe County
An arrest in Tippecanoe County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Tippecanoe Circuit and Superior Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at tippecanoe.in.gov/854/Tippecanoe-Court-Records, phone 765-423-9326); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tcprosecutor.com, phone 765-423-9305).
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 Tippecanoe 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 Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 765-423-9388.
- An arrest in Lafayette, West Lafayette, Dayton or Clarks Hill: 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 Purdue University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 765-423-9305, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Tippecanoe Circuit and Superior Courts, through the court records page at tippecanoe.in.gov, phone 765-423-9326.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at tippecanoe.in.gov/524/Public-Record-Requests (page title: Public Record Requests | Tippecanoe County, IN).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Tippecanoe County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the six cities in Tippecanoe County: Lafayette, West Lafayette, Dayton and Clarks Hill. Battle Ground and Shadeland 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 Tippecanoe Circuit and Superior Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Tippecanoe County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Lafayette (71,757)
- West Lafayette (46,338)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Tippecanoe County each year?
Lafayette reported 2,906 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,127 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Tippecanoe County?
Ask the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office at 765-423-9388; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at tippecanoe.in.gov/466/Corrections.
Where are people arrested in Tippecanoe County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Tippecanoe 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 Tippecanoe County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Tippecanoe 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 tippecanoe.in.gov/524/Public-Record-Requests.
Is this the official Tippecanoe 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.