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.
Thomas County, Kansas, has about 7,800 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Thomas County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Thomas 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: Thomas County public records, Kansas arrest records, Kansas inmate search and Kansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Thomas County
The Thomas County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Thomas County. It reported 160 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Thomas County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Colby, 5,539 residents: 59 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 Oakley Police Department is listed by the FBI across three counties including Thomas County, so its arrests are not broken out for Thomas County here.
How Many Arrests Colby Reports
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.
- Colby: 59 for 2025, 161 for 2022, 159 for 2021, 128 for 2020 and 163 for 2019; 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Thomas County Sheriff's Office: 160 for 2024, 115 for 2023, 75 for 2021, 88 for 2020 and 96 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
Through August 2026, Colby reported 39 arrests, against 39 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Thomas County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Thomas 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 19 people, down from about 23 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 15 beds, and it ran at 153 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 Thomas County Sheriff's Office at thomascountysheriffsoffice.com/jail/jail-roster (page title: Inmates | Thomas County Sheriffs 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 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 Thomas County
Whether someone was arrested in Thomas County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Thomas 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 thomascountyks.gov/1196/County-Attorney, phone (785) 460-4500).
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 Thomas 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 Thomas County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Colby: 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) 460-4500, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Thomas County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the five cities in Thomas County: Colby. Brewster, Rexford, Gem and Menlo 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 Thomas County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Thomas County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Colby (5,539)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Thomas County each year?
Colby reported 59 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Thomas County?
Look on the custody page of the Thomas County Sheriff's Office at thomascountysheriffsoffice.com. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Thomas County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Thomas County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Thomas 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 Thomas County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Thomas 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 Thomas 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.