Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. 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 4, 2026.
Decatur County, Kansas, has about 2,700 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Decatur 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 Decatur County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it.
This guide covers who makes arrests, arrest counts, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Decatur County public records, Kansas arrest records, Kansas inmate search and Kansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Decatur County
The Decatur County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Decatur County. It reported 16 arrests for 2025.
One city in Decatur County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Oberlin, 1,610 residents: 23 arrests reported for 2024.
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.
Arrest Counts on File for Decatur County
The FBI publishes monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. For Decatur County the counts on file are partial: Oberlin and Decatur County Sheriff's Office have sent some months but no full year since 2019, so no annual total is given here.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Decatur County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Decatur 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 8 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 11 beds, and it ran at 73 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 Decatur County Sheriff's Office at dccoks.org/sheriff (page title: Decatur County Kansas), phone (785) 475-8100, 120 E. Hall Street Oberlin, KS 67749, Monday - Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Decatur County
Whether someone was arrested in Decatur County, 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 dccoks.org/attorney, phone 785-475-2296).
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 Decatur 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 Decatur County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (785) 475-8100.
- An arrest in Oberlin: 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, 785-475-2296, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Decatur County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the four cities in Decatur County: Oberlin. Norcatur, Jennings and Dresden 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 Decatur County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Decatur County?
Ask the Decatur County Sheriff's Office at (785) 475-8100; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dccoks.org/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Decatur County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Decatur County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Decatur 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 Decatur County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Decatur 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 Decatur 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.