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.
Brown County, Kansas, has about 9,100 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Brown County Sheriff's Office and two city agencies. 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 Brown 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: Brown County public records, Kansas arrest records, Kansas inmate search and Kansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Brown County
The Brown County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Brown County. It reported 128 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Hiawatha, 3,137 residents: 95 arrests reported for 2025.
- Horton, 1,461 residents: 38 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.
The Sabetha Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Brown County, so its arrests are not broken out for Brown County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Brown 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.
- Brown County Sheriff's Office: 128 for 2025, 145 for 2024, 209 for 2023, 222 for 2022, 216 for 2021 and 140 for 2020.
- Hiawatha: 95 for 2025, 123 for 2023, 120 for 2022, 95 for 2021, 104 for 2020 and 156 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Horton: 38 for 2025, 68 for 2023, 88 for 2022, 79 for 2021 and 70 for 2020; 2024 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 261 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 128 in 2025 against 145 in 2024, down 12 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 137 arrests, against 138 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Brown County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Brown 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 2021 the jail held about 17 people, down from about 21 in 2019. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Brown County Sheriff's Office at brownso.org/agency-data/jail-roster (page title: Jail Roster | Brown County Sheriff's Office), phone 785-742-7125, 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 Brown County
Whether someone was arrested in Brown County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Brown 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 brcoks.org/1208/County-Attorney, phone 785-740-7401).
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 Brown County
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 Brown County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 785-742-7125.
- An arrest in Hiawatha or Horton: 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, 785-740-7401, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Brown County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the ten cities in Brown County: Hiawatha and Horton. Everest, Fairview, Morrill, Robinson, Reserve, Powhattan, Hamlin and Willis 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 Brown County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Brown County each year?
The Brown County Sheriff's Office reported 128 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 261 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Brown County?
Look on the custody page of the Brown County Sheriff's Office at brownso.org/agency-data/jail-roster, or call 785-742-7125. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Brown County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Brown County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Brown 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 Brown County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Brown 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 Brown 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.