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 September 26, 2026.
Monticello, Kentucky, in Wayne County, has about 5,700 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 Wayne 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: Monticello public records, Wayne County arrest records, Kentucky arrest records and Kentucky inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Monticello
The FBI lists Monticello with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Monticello Police Department. It reported 229 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 Wayne County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 436 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Monticello 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.
- Monticello: 229 for 2025, 331 for 2024, 459 for 2023, 397 for 2022, 423 for 2021 and 288 for 2020.
Monticello's 229 arrests in 2025 were down 31 percent from 331 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Monticello reported 154 arrests, against 177 in the same months of 2025.
Across Wayne County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 665 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Monticello Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Monticello 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 140 people on an average day, down from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 180 beds, and it is running at 77 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Kentucky Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at kool.corrections.ky.gov/.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Monticello
For Monticello the place to look is the case index of the Wayne 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/Wayne.aspx, phone 606-348-5841).
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 Monticello
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 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 Monticello police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at monticelloky.gov/SmartForms/109/open-records-request (page title: City of Monticello, Kentucky | Specialty), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Wayne Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 606-348-5841.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Wayne County guide covers every agency in the county: Wayne County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Monticello each year?
Monticello reported 229 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Monticello booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Monticello?
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 Monticello?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Monticello police for its own arrests, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Kentucky Open Records Act the answer is due within 5 business days.
Is this the official Monticello 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.