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 24, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
El Dorado, Kansas, in Butler County, has about 13,000 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 County Attorney files charges, a case in the Butler County District Court. 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: El Dorado public records, Butler County arrest records, Kansas arrest records and Kansas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in El Dorado
The FBI lists El Dorado with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as El Dorado Police Department. It reported 503 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 Butler County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 884 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Butler County: Butler Community College (campus police); the Bluestem Unified School District and the El Dorado School District (other).
How Many Arrests El Dorado Reports
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.
- El Dorado: 503 for 2025, 477 for 2024, 410 for 2023, 435 for 2022, 290 for 2021 and 285 for 2020.
El Dorado's 503 arrests in 2025 were up 5.5 percent from 477 in 2024.
Through August 2026, El Dorado reported 278 arrests, against 295 in the same months of 2025.
Across Butler County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,822 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in El Dorado Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in El Dorado 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 2019 the jail held about 200 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 207 beds, and it ran at 98 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 Butler County Sheriff's Office at butlersheriff.org/jail-facilities (page title: Jail Facilities | Butler County Sheriff’s Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Kansas Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.ks.gov/@@search?SearchableText=inmate+search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in El Dorado
An arrest in El Dorado can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: Kansas District Court Public Access Portal, the Kansas courts' statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at bucoks.gov/166/Attorneys-Office, phone (316) 600-5248).
Kansas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can order a name-based criminal history record check online, through the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. 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 El Dorado
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Kansas Open Records Act the agency must answer within 3 business days, and it may charge staff time and copying.
- An arrest by the El Dorado police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at eldoks.gov/m/directory/department?did=12 (page title: Staff Directory, Police Department), phone 316-321-9120, 128 N. Vine St. El Dorado, KS 67042, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Butler County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (316) 600-5248, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bucoks.gov (page title: REQUEST FOR COPIES OF OPEN RECORDS).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Butler County guide covers every agency in the county: Butler County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in El Dorado each year?
El Dorado reported 503 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in El Dorado?
Ask the Butler County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at butlersheriff.org/jail-facilities.
Where are people arrested in El Dorado booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Butler County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in El Dorado?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation: anyone can order a name-based criminal history record check online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Kansas Open Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in El Dorado?
From the agency that made the arrest: the El Dorado police for its own arrests, the Butler County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Kansas Open Records Act the answer is due within 3 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bucoks.gov.
Is this the official El Dorado 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.