Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 4, 2026.
Frankfort, Kentucky, in Franklin County, has about 29,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Commonwealth's Attorney files charges, a case in the Franklin Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Frankfort public records, Franklin County arrest records, Kentucky arrest records and Kentucky inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Frankfort
The FBI lists Frankfort with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Frankfort Police Department. It reported 1,570 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 5,904 arrests for 2023.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Franklin County: Attorney General, Motor Vehicle Enforcement, Kentucky State Park Rangers Division, the Department of Insurance Fraud Unit and four more (state agency); Kentucky State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Frankfort Reports
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.
- Frankfort: 1,570 for 2025, 1,657 for 2024, 1,797 for 2023, 2,037 for 2022, 2,037 for 2021 and 1,783 for 2020.
Frankfort's 1,570 arrests in 2025 were down 5.3 percent from 1,657 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Frankfort reported 766 arrests, against 1,029 in the same months of 2025.
Across Franklin County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 7,701 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Frankfort Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Frankfort 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 410 people on an average day, up from about 310 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 301 beds, and it is running at 136 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office at franklincounty.ky.gov/jailer (page title: Jailer | Franklin County), phone (502) 875-8713, Monday-Friday 8 AM - 4:00 PM, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Kentucky Department of Corrections lists its inmates at kool.corrections.ky.gov/.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Frankfort
Whether someone was arrested in Frankfort, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Franklin Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at kycourts.gov/Courts/County-Information/Pages/Franklin.aspx, phone 502-564-7013); the Commonwealth's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at franklincounty.ky.gov/attorney, phone (502) 875-8745).
Kentucky is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Administrative Office of the Courts, not the state police, sells name-based criminal record reports to the public, for $25 a search, through the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts. 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 Frankfort
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Kentucky Open Records Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying, 10 cents a page for standard copies.
- An arrest by the Frankfort police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at frankfort.ky.gov/254/Records-Section (page title: Records Section | Frankfort, KY), phone 502-875-8523, 300 W Second Street Public Safety Building Frankfort, KY 40601, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (502) 875-8713.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Commonwealth's Attorney, (502) 875-8745, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Franklin Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 502-564-7013.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at franklincounty.ky.gov/open-records (page title: Open Records | Franklin County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Franklin County guide covers every agency in the county: Franklin County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Frankfort each year?
Frankfort reported 1,570 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Frankfort?
Ask the Franklin County Sheriff's Office at (502) 875-8713; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at franklincounty.ky.gov/jailer.
Where are people arrested in Frankfort booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Frankfort?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts: the Administrative Office of the Courts, not the state police, sells name-based criminal record reports to the public, for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Frankfort?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Frankfort police for its own arrests, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Kentucky Open Records Act the answer is due within 5 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at franklincounty.ky.gov/open-records.
Is this the official Frankfort website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.