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.
Lyon County, Kansas, has about 33,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lyon County Sheriff's Office, two 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 Lyon 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: Lyon County public records, Kansas arrest records, Kansas inmate search and Kansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lyon County
The Lyon County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lyon County. It reported 21 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Lyon County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Emporia, 24,354 residents: 432 arrests reported for 2025.
- Americus, 779 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.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Lyon County: Emporia State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lyon 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.
- Emporia: 432 for 2025, 609 for 2024, 884 for 2023 and 927 for 2022.
- Lyon County Sheriff's Office: 21 for 2025, 0 for 2021 and 85 for 2019; 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 453 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 432 in 2025 against 609 in 2024, down 29 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 186 arrests, against 236 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lyon County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lyon 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 130 people. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Lyon County Sheriff's Office at lyoncountyks.gov/374/Detention-Center (page title: Detention Center | Lyon County, KS), phone 620-341-3205, 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 Lyon County
An arrest in Lyon County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: 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 lyoncountyks.gov/160/County-Attorney, phone 620-341-3263).
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 Lyon 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 Lyon County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 620-341-3205.
- An arrest in Emporia or Americus: 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 Emporia State University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 620-341-3263, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lyoncountyks.gov (page title: LYON COUNTY, KANSAS 430 COMMERCIAL ST. EMPORIA, KANSAS 66801).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Lyon County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the nine cities in Lyon County: Emporia and Americus. Olpe, Hartford, Neosho Rapids, Reading, Allen, Admire and Bushong 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 Lyon County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lyon County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Emporia (24,354)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lyon County each year?
Emporia reported 432 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 453 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lyon County?
Ask the Lyon County Sheriff's Office at 620-341-3205; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lyoncountyks.gov/374/Detention-Center.
Where are people arrested in Lyon County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lyon County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lyon 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 Lyon County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lyon 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 lyoncountyks.gov.
Is this the official Lyon 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.