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.
Sumner County, Kansas, has about 22,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Sumner County Sheriff's Office, six city agencies and one state 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 Sumner 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: Sumner County public records, Kansas arrest records, Kansas inmate search and Kansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Sumner County
The Sumner County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Sumner County. It reported 194 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:
- Wellington, 7,561 residents: 263 arrests reported for 2025.
- Belle Plaine, 1,445 residents: 14 arrests reported for 2024.
- Conway Springs, 1,135 residents.
- Oxford, 1,036 residents: 19 arrests reported for 2022.
- Caldwell, 1,000 residents.
- Argonia, 447 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 Mulvane Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Sumner County, so its arrests are not broken out for Sumner County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Sumner County: Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission Law Enforcement (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Sumner 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.
- Wellington: 263 for 2025, 280 for 2024, 376 for 2023, 181 for 2022, 168 for 2021 and 225 for 2020.
- Sumner County Sheriff's Office: 194 for 2025, 215 for 2024, 348 for 2023, 272 for 2022, 263 for 2021 and 237 for 2020.
- Belle Plaine: 14 for 2024, 9 for 2023 and 20 for 2021; 2022 is missing months.
- Oxford: 19 for 2022 and 0 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 509 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 509 in 2024 against 733 in 2023, down 31 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Sumner County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Sumner 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 2022 the jail held about 110 people, down from about 160 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 185 beds, and it ran at 84 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Sumner County Sheriff's Office at sumnersheriff.net/agency-data/jail-roster (page title: Jail Roster | Sumner County, KS | Sheriff Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Sumner County
An arrest in Sumner County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Sumner County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; 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 co.sumner.ks.us/elected_officials/county_attorney.php, phone (620)326-7941).
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 Sumner County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. 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 Sumner County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Wellington, Belle Plaine, Conway Springs, Oxford, Caldwell or Argonia: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission Law Enforcement: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (620)326-7941, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at co.sumner.ks.us (page title: Sumner County, KS).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Sumner County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the 11 cities in Sumner County: Wellington, Belle Plaine, Conway Springs, Oxford, Caldwell and Argonia. South Haven, Geuda Springs, Mayfield, Milan and Hunnewell 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 Sumner County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Sumner County each year?
Wellington reported 263 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Sumner County sent in full, the three with every month on file reported 509 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Sumner County?
Look on the custody page of the Sumner County Sheriff's Office at sumnersheriff.net/agency-data/jail-roster. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Sumner County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Sumner County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Sumner 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 Sumner County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Sumner 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 co.sumner.ks.us.
Is this the official Sumner 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.