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 between September 24, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Dickinson County, Kansas, has about 19,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Dickinson County Sheriff's Office and three 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 Dickinson 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: Dickinson County public records, Kansas arrest records, Kansas inmate search and Kansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Dickinson County
The Dickinson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Dickinson County. It reported 222 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Dickinson County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Abilene, 6,501 residents: 166 arrests reported for 2025.
- Herington, 2,116 residents: 64 arrests reported for 2019.
- Chapman, 1,388 residents.
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 Dickinson County
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.
- Dickinson County Sheriff's Office: 222 for 2025, 234 for 2024, 248 for 2023, 267 for 2022, 262 for 2021 and 208 for 2020.
- Abilene: 166 for 2025, 230 for 2024, 229 for 2023, 241 for 2022, 201 for 2020 and 128 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Herington: 64 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 388 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 388 in 2025 against 464 in 2024, down 16 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 240 arrests, against 234 in the same months of 2025.
Herington reported only part of 2025 (8 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dickinson County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Dickinson 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 2023 the jail held about 41 people, up from about 28 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 41 beds, and it ran at 100 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 Dickinson County Sheriff's Office at dkcoks.gov/sheriffs-office (page title: Sheriff's Office | Dickinson County, KS), phone 785-263-3120, 109 E. 1st Street, Abilene, KS 67410, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Dickinson County
Whether someone was arrested in Dickinson 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 dkcoks.gov/County-Attorney, phone 785-263-3120).
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 Dickinson 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 Dickinson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 785-263-3120.
- An arrest in Abilene, Herington or Chapman: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 785-263-3120, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at dkcoks.gov/OpenRecords_Request (page title: Open Records Request | Dickinson County Kansas | Dickinson County Kansas).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Dickinson County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the nine cities in Dickinson County: Abilene, Herington and Chapman. Solomon, Enterprise, Hope, Woodbine, Manchester and Carlton 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 Dickinson County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Dickinson County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Abilene (6,501)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dickinson County each year?
The Dickinson County Sheriff's Office reported 222 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 388 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Dickinson County?
Ask the Dickinson County Sheriff's Office at 785-263-3120; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dkcoks.gov/sheriffs-office.
Where are people arrested in Dickinson County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dickinson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dickinson 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 Dickinson County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dickinson 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at dkcoks.gov/OpenRecords_Request.
Is this the official Dickinson 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.