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 9, 2026.
Clark County, Kentucky, has about 38,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clark County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one other 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 Clark 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: Clark County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clark County
The Clark County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clark County. It reported 210 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Clark County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Winchester, 19,413 residents: 1,867 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 one more agency in Clark County: Clark County School System (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Clark 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.
- Winchester: 1,867 for 2025, 2,288 for 2024, 2,414 for 2023, 1,470 for 2021, 1,627 for 2020 and 2,737 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Clark County Sheriff's Office: 210 for 2025, 233 for 2024, 213 for 2023, 282 for 2022, 396 for 2021 and 386 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,077 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,077 in 2025 against 2,521 in 2024, down 18 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,150 arrests, against 1,236 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clark County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Clark 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 240 people on an average day, down from about 280 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 193 beds, and it is running at 122 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 Clark County Sheriff's Office at clarkcoky.com/1199/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Clark County, KY), phone 859-744-4390, 200 Maryland Avenue Winchester, KY 40391, Monday through Friday 8 am to 4 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 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 Clark County
For Clark County the place to look is the case index of the Clark 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/Clark.aspx, phone 859-737-7264).
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 Clark 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 Clark County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 859-744-4390.
- An arrest in Winchester: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Clark County School System: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Clark Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 859-737-7264.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at clarkcountyclerk.ky.gov/open-records-policy (page title: Open Records Policy | Clark County Clerk).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Clark County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Clark County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Winchester, the one city in Clark County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Clark Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clark County each year?
Winchester reported 1,867 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,077 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Clark County?
Ask the Clark County Sheriff's Office at 859-744-4390; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at clarkcoky.com/1199/Sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Clark County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clark County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clark 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 Clark County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clark 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at clarkcountyclerk.ky.gov/open-records-policy.
Is this the official Clark 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.