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.
Rice County, Kansas, has about 9,300 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Rice County Sheriff's Office and six 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 Rice 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: Rice County public records, Kansas arrest records, Kansas inmate search and Kansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Rice County
The Rice County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Rice County. It reported 47 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside six 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:
- Lyons, 3,499 residents: 49 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sterling, 2,309 residents: 6 arrests reported for 2025.
- Little River, 468 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2019.
- Chase, 389 residents.
- Geneseo, 226 residents.
- Bushton, 197 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 Rice 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.
- Lyons: 49 for 2025, 45 for 2024, 63 for 2023, 37 for 2021 and 69 for 2020; 2022 is missing months.
- Rice County Sheriff's Office: 47 for 2025, 43 for 2024, 37 for 2022, 43 for 2021, 38 for 2020 and 37 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Sterling: 6 for 2025, 8 for 2024, 10 for 2023, 13 for 2021, 16 for 2020 and 16 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Little River: 0 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 102 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 102 in 2025 against 96 in 2024, up 6.3 percent.
Through March 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 25 arrests, against 26 in the same months of 2025.
Chase reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Rice County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Rice 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 38 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 72 beds, and it ran at 53 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 Rice County Sheriff's Office at ricecounty.us/departments/rice_county_sheriffs_office/index.php (page title: Rice County Sheriff's Office), phone 620-257-7876, 1442 West Commercial Ave Lyons, KS 67554, Monday through Friday 8 AM - 4 PM, 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 Rice County
Whether someone was arrested in Rice 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 ricecounty.us/departments/attorney, phone 620-257-3081).
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 Rice 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 Rice County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 620-257-7876.
- An arrest in Lyons, Sterling, Little River, Chase, Geneseo or Bushton: 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, 620-257-3081, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Rice County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the nine cities in Rice County: Lyons, Sterling, Little River, Chase, Geneseo and Bushton. Alden, Raymond and Frederick 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 Rice County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Rice County each year?
Lyons reported 49 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 102 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Rice County?
Ask the Rice County Sheriff's Office at 620-257-7876; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at ricecounty.us.
Where are people arrested in Rice County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Rice County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Rice 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 Rice County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Rice 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 Rice 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.