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.
Laurel County, Kentucky, has about 63,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Laurel County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and two 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 Laurel 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: Laurel County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Laurel County
The Laurel County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Laurel County. It reported 1,153 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Laurel County with a reporting agency of its own:
- London, 7,573 residents: 781 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 Laurel County: Appalachia HIDTA and Laurel County Public Schools (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Laurel 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.
- Laurel County Sheriff's Office: 1,153 for 2025, 1,101 for 2024, 1,303 for 2023, 1,314 for 2022, 1,540 for 2021 and 1,538 for 2020.
- London: 781 for 2025, 1,023 for 2024, 2,031 for 2023, 1,081 for 2022, 966 for 2021 and 878 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,934 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,934 in 2025 against 2,124 in 2024, down 8.9 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,068 arrests, against 1,050 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Laurel County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Laurel 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 660 people on an average day, up from about 490 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 915 beds, and it is running at 72 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 Laurel County Sheriff's Office at laurelcountycorrections.org (page title: Laurel County Corrections), phone (606) 878-9431, 440 Hammock Rd London, KY 40744, Mon-Fri, 8am-10pm, 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 Laurel County
For Laurel County the place to look is the case index of the Laurel 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/Laurel.aspx, phone 606-330-2078).
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 Laurel 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 Laurel County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (606) 878-9431.
- An arrest in London: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Appalachia HIDTA or Laurel County Public Schools: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Laurel Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 606-330-2078.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Laurel County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for London, the one city in Laurel County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Laurel Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Laurel County each year?
The Laurel County Sheriff's Office reported 1,153 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,934 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Laurel County?
Ask the Laurel County Sheriff's Office at (606) 878-9431; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at laurelcountycorrections.org.
Where are people arrested in Laurel County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Laurel County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Laurel 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 Laurel County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Laurel 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 Laurel 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.