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.
Great Bend, Kansas, in Barton County, has about 14,000 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 Barton 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: Great Bend public records, Barton County arrest records, Kansas arrest records and Kansas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Great Bend
The FBI lists Great Bend with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Great Bend Police Department. It reported 264 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 Barton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 450 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Great Bend 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.
- Great Bend: 264 for 2025, 383 for 2023, 519 for 2022, 618 for 2021, 512 for 2020 and 524 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
Through July 2026, Great Bend reported 140 arrests, against 143 in the same months of 2025.
Across Barton County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 829 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Great Bend Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Great Bend 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 2019 the jail held about 95 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 119 beds, and it ran at 80 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 Barton County Sheriff's Office at bartoncounty.org/vnews/display.v/ART/51782a98905f1 (page title: Barton County | Detention Facility), 1408 Kansas Ave Great Bend, KS 67530, Wednesday's at 7:00 PM. Check-In from 6:15 PM to 6:45 PM., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Kansas Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.ks.gov/@@search?SearchableText=inmate+search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Great Bend
Whether someone was arrested in Great Bend, and what came of it, shows up in two places: 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 bartoncounty.org/vnews/display.v/SEC/County%20Attorney, phone (785) 296-2215).
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 Great Bend
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 Great Bend police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at greatbendks.gov/404/Police-Department (page title: Great Bend, KS), phone 620-793-4111, Wednesdays or Thursdays from 8:00pm-12:00am, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Barton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (785) 296-2215, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bartoncountyks.nextrequest.com (page title: Open Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Barton County guide covers every agency in the county: Barton County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Great Bend each year?
Great Bend reported 264 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Great Bend?
Ask the Barton County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at bartoncounty.org.
Where are people arrested in Great Bend booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Barton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Great Bend?
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 Great Bend?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Great Bend police for its own arrests, the Barton 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 bartoncountyks.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Great Bend 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.