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 September 30, 2026.
Butler County, Kentucky, has about 13,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Butler 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 Commonwealth's Attorney files charges, a case in the Butler 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: Butler County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Butler County
The Butler County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Butler County. It reported 133 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Butler County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Morgantown, 2,510 residents: 76 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Butler 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.
- Butler County Sheriff's Office: 133 for 2025, 172 for 2024, 241 for 2023, 280 for 2022, 285 for 2021 and 118 for 2020.
- Morgantown: 76 for 2025, 98 for 2024, 205 for 2023, 192 for 2022, 167 for 2021 and 122 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 209 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 209 in 2025 against 270 in 2024, down 23 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 88 arrests, against 127 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Butler County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Butler 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 39 people on an average day, down from about 58 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 36 beds, and it is running at 108 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 Butler County Sheriff's Office at butlersheriff.org/jail-facilities (page title: Jail Facilities | Butler County Sheriff’s Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
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 Butler County
Whether someone was arrested in Butler County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Butler 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/Butler.aspx, phone 270-526-5631); the Commonwealth's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at butlercounty.ky.gov/County-Government/Pages/County-Attorney.aspx, phone (270) 526-3316).
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 Butler 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 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 Butler County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Morgantown: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Commonwealth's Attorney, (270) 526-3316, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Butler Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 270-526-5631.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Butler County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Butler County: Morgantown. Rochester and Woodbury 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 Butler Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Butler County each year?
The Butler County Sheriff's Office reported 133 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 209 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Butler County?
Ask the Butler County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at butlersheriff.org/jail-facilities.
Where are people arrested in Butler County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Butler County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Butler 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 Butler County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Butler 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 Butler 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.