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.
Douglas County, Kansas, has about 122,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and one campus 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 Douglas 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: Douglas County public records, Kansas arrest records, Kansas inmate search and Kansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Douglas County
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Douglas County. It reported 486 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Douglas County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Lawrence, 97,271 residents: 2,482 arrests reported for 2025.
- Eudora, 6,564 residents: 99 arrests reported for 2025.
- Baldwin City, 4,985 residents: 29 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 FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Douglas County: the University of Kansas's Main Campus (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Douglas 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.
- Lawrence: 2,482 for 2025, 2,140 for 2024, 1,227 for 2022 and 1,418 for 2021; 2023 is missing months.
- Douglas County Sheriff's Office: 486 for 2025, 334 for 2023, 380 for 2022 and 634 for 2021; 2024 is missing months.
- Eudora: 99 for 2025, 64 for 2024, 85 for 2023, 92 for 2022 and 105 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Baldwin City: 29 for 2025, 39 for 2024, 53 for 2023, 51 for 2022 and 35 for 2021.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,096 arrests that year. The three of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,610 in 2025 against 2,243 in 2024, up 16 percent.
Through June 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,327 arrests, against 1,301 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Douglas County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Douglas County 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 2020 the jail held about 130 people, down from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 186 beds, and it ran at 77 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 Douglas County Sheriff's Office at dgso.org/index.php/dgso-inmate-reports (page title: DGSO Inmate Reports), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Kansas Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.ks.gov/@@search?SearchableText=inmate+search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Douglas County
An arrest in Douglas County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Douglas County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at dgcoks.gov/district-court/clerk-of-the-district-court/court-records, phone 785-832-5256); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at dgcoks.gov/district-attorney, phone 785-841-0211).
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 Douglas 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 Douglas County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Lawrence, Eudora or Baldwin City: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the University of Kansas's Main Campus: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 785-841-0211, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Douglas County District Court, through the court records page at dgcoks.gov, phone 785-832-5256.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at dgcoks.gov (page title: Public Records | Douglas County KS).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Douglas County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the four cities in Douglas County: Lawrence, Eudora and Baldwin City. Lecompton has 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 Douglas County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Douglas County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Lawrence (97,271)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Douglas County each year?
Lawrence reported 2,482 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,096 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Douglas County?
Ask the Douglas County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dgso.org/index.php/dgso-inmate-reports.
Where are people arrested in Douglas County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Douglas 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 Douglas County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Douglas 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 dgcoks.gov.
Is this the official Douglas 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.