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 on September 24, 2026.
Atchison County, Kansas, has about 16,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Atchison County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 County Attorney files charges, a case in the Atchison County District Court. 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: Atchison County public records, Kansas arrest records, Kansas inmate search and Kansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Atchison County
The Atchison County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Atchison County. It reported 66 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Atchison County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Atchison, 10,813 residents: 228 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Atchison 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.
- Atchison: 228 for 2025, 237 for 2024, 332 for 2023, 338 for 2022 and 396 for 2021.
- Atchison County Sheriff's Office: 66 for 2024, 158 for 2023, 110 for 2021 and 109 for 2020; 2022 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 303 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 303 in 2024 against 490 in 2023, down 38 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Atchison County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Atchison 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 2019 the jail held about 72 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 73 beds, and it ran at 99 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 Atchison County Sheriff's Office at atcosheriffks.org/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_time=desc/1 (page title: Inmate Roster | Atchison County Kansas Sheriff's Office | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), phone 913.804.6100, 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 Atchison County
An arrest in Atchison County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Atchison County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Atchison County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at atchisoncountyks.org/7/District-Court, phone (785) 296-1400); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at atchisoncountyks.org/6/County-Attorney, phone 913-804-6020).
Statewide, Kansas District Court Public Access Portal is the Kansas courts' statewide case search.
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 Atchison County
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 Atchison County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 913.804.6100.
- An arrest in Atchison: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 913-804-6020, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Atchison County District Court, through the court records page at atchisoncountyks.org/7/District-Court, phone (785) 296-1400.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Atchison County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the five cities in Atchison County: Atchison. Effingham, Lancaster, Muscotah and Huron 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 Atchison County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Atchison County each year?
Atchison reported 228 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Atchison County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 303 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Atchison County?
Look on the custody page of the Atchison County Sheriff's Office at atcosheriffks.org, or call 913.804.6100. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Atchison County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Atchison County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Atchison County?
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 Atchison County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Atchison County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Kansas Open Records Act the answer is due within 3 business days.
Is this the official Atchison 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.