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.
Wichita, Kansas, in Sedgwick County, has about 401,000 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 Sedgwick 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: Wichita public records, Sedgwick County arrest records, Kansas arrest records and Kansas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Wichita
The FBI lists Wichita with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Wichita Police Department. It reported 9,871 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 Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,596 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Sedgwick County: Wichita State University (campus police); Sedwick County Fire Department Arson Investigation and the Goddard Unified School District (other); the Gilley's Park City Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission (state agency).
How Many Arrests Wichita 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.
- Wichita: 9,871 for 2025, 9,484 for 2024, 9,627 for 2023, 9,495 for 2022, 8,326 for 2021 and 9,618 for 2020.
Wichita's 9,871 arrests in 2025 were up 4.1 percent from 9,484 in 2024.
Through May 2026, Wichita reported 4,162 arrests, against 4,373 in the same months of 2025.
Across Sedgwick County, the 11 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 13,594 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Wichita Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Wichita 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 2024 the jail held about 1,170 people, down from about 1,240 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,406 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 custody page of the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office at ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/inmatesearch (page title: Inmate Search | Sedgwick County, Kansas), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Kansas Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.ks.gov/@@search?SearchableText=inmate+search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Wichita
An arrest in Wichita can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; 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 sedgwickcounty.org/district-attorney).
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 Wichita
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 Wichita police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at wichita.gov/1061/Records-Bureau (page title: Records Bureau | Wichita, KS), phone (316) 268-4221, Monday through Friday, from 6:30 am to 4:30 pm., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sedgwickcounty.org/fire/forms/records-request (page title: Records Request | Sedgwick County, Kansas).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Sedgwick County guide covers every agency in the county: Sedgwick County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Wichita each year?
Wichita reported 9,871 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Wichita?
Look on the custody page of the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office at ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/inmatesearch. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Wichita booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Wichita?
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 Wichita?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Wichita police for its own arrests, the Sedgwick 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 sedgwickcounty.org/fire/forms/records-request.
Is this the official Wichita 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.