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 26, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Iola, Kansas, in Allen County, has about 5,300 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 Allen 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: Iola public records, Allen County arrest records, Kansas arrest records and Kansas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Iola
The FBI lists Iola with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Iola Police Department. It reported 222 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 Allen County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 70 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Iola Reports
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.
- Iola: 222 for 2025, 216 for 2024, 353 for 2023, 357 for 2022, 360 for 2021 and 377 for 2020.
Iola's 222 arrests in 2025 were up 2.8 percent from 216 in 2024.
Through March 2026, Iola reported 53 arrests, against 45 in the same months of 2025.
Across Allen County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 292 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Iola Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Iola 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 47 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 72 beds, and it ran at 65 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Iola
For Iola the place to look is Kansas District Court Public Access Portal, the Kansas courts' statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed.
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 Iola
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 Kansas Open Records Act the agency must answer within 3 business days, and it may charge staff time and copying.
- An arrest by the Iola police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cityofiola.com/161/Records (page title: Records | Iola, KS), phone 620-365-4960, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Allen County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Allen County guide covers every agency in the county: Allen County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Iola each year?
Iola reported 222 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Iola booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Allen County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Iola?
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 Iola?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Iola police for its own arrests, the Allen County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Kansas Open Records Act the answer is due within 3 business days.
Is this the official Iola 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.