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.
Garrard County, Kentucky, has about 18,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Garrard 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 Garrard 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: Garrard County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Garrard County
The Garrard County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Garrard County. It reported 223 arrests for 2025.
One city in Garrard County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Lancaster, 4,083 residents: 245 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 Garrard 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.
- Lancaster: 245 for 2025, 240 for 2024, 332 for 2023, 309 for 2022, 281 for 2021 and 329 for 2020.
- Garrard County Sheriff's Office: 223 for 2025, 169 for 2024, 238 for 2023 and 169 for 2022.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 468 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 468 in 2025 against 409 in 2024, up 14 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 243 arrests, against 235 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Garrard County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Garrard 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.
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 54 people, down from about 59 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2021 was 31 beds, and it ran at 178 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Garrard County Sheriff's Office at garrardcountyky.gov/sheriff-office (page title: Sheriff Office | Garrard County), phone (859) 792-3591, 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 Garrard County
Whether someone was arrested in Garrard County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Garrard 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/Garrard.aspx, phone 859-792-2961); the Commonwealth's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at garrardcountyky.gov/garrard-co-attorney, phone 859-792-2331).
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 Garrard 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 Garrard County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (859) 792-3591.
- An arrest in Lancaster: 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, 859-792-2331, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Garrard Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 859-792-2961.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at garrardcountyky.gov/open-records-request (page title: Open Records Request | Garrard County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Garrard County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Lancaster, the one city in Garrard County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Garrard Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Garrard County each year?
Lancaster reported 245 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 468 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Garrard County?
Ask the Garrard County Sheriff's Office at (859) 792-3591; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at garrardcountyky.gov/sheriff-office.
Where are people arrested in Garrard County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Garrard County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Garrard 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 Garrard County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Garrard 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 garrardcountyky.gov/open-records-request.
Is this the official Garrard 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.