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.
Bell County, Kentucky, has about 23,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Bell County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and three other 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 Commonwealth's Attorney files charges, a case in the Bell Circuit 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: Bell County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Bell County
The Bell County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Bell County. It reported 565 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Middlesborough, 8,899 residents: 661 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pineville, 1,566 residents: 184 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 FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Bell County: Pineville Independent Schools, the Bell County School District and Middlesboro Independent Schools (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Bell 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.
- Middlesborough: 661 for 2025, 576 for 2024, 877 for 2023, 1,033 for 2022, 1,108 for 2021 and 649 for 2020.
- Bell County Sheriff's Office: 565 for 2025, 638 for 2024, 896 for 2023, 685 for 2022, 581 for 2021 and 386 for 2020.
- Pineville: 184 for 2025, 190 for 2024, 189 for 2023, 339 for 2022, 260 for 2021 and 515 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,410 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,410 in 2025 against 1,404 in 2024, up 0.4 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 757 arrests, against 973 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Bell County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Bell 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 120 people on an average day, down from about 160 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 59 beds, and it is running at 210 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Bell County
For Bell County the place to look is the case index of the Bell 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/Bell.aspx, phone 606-337-9900).
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 Bell 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 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 Bell County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Middlesborough or Pineville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Pineville Independent Schools, the Bell County School District or Middlesboro Independent Schools: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Bell Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 606-337-9900.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Bell County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Bell County: Middlesborough and Pineville.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Bell Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Bell County each year?
Middlesborough reported 661 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,410 between them.
Where are people arrested in Bell County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bell County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Bell County?
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 Bell County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Bell County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Kentucky Open Records Act the answer is due within 5 business days.
Is this the official Bell 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.