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.
Leslie County, Kentucky, has about 9,700 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Leslie 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 Leslie 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: Leslie County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Leslie County
The Leslie County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Leslie County. It reported 202 arrests for 2025.
One city in Leslie County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Hyden, 279 residents: 0 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 Leslie 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.
- Leslie County Sheriff's Office: 202 for 2025, 298 for 2024, 318 for 2023, 462 for 2022, 279 for 2021 and 319 for 2020.
- Hyden: 0 for 2025, 6 for 2024, 79 for 2023, 10 for 2022, 10 for 2021 and 25 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 202 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 202 in 2025 against 304 in 2024, down 34 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 94 arrests, against 122 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Leslie County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Leslie 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 160 people on an average day, down from about 280 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 141 beds, and it is running at 112 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Leslie County
For Leslie County the place to look is the case index of the Leslie 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/Leslie.aspx, phone 606-672-2505).
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 Leslie 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 Leslie County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Hyden: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Leslie Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 606-672-2505.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Leslie County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Hyden, the one city in Leslie County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Leslie Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Leslie County each year?
The Leslie County Sheriff's Office reported 202 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 202 between them.
Where are people arrested in Leslie County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Leslie County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Leslie 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 Leslie County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Leslie 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 Leslie 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.