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. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 24, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
McCreary County, Kentucky, has about 17,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the McCreary County Sheriff's Office 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 McCreary 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 and common questions.
Related guides: McCreary County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in McCreary County
The McCreary County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for McCreary County. It reported 509 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in McCreary County: McCreary County Schools (other).
How Many Arrests The McCreary County Sheriff's Office Reports
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.
- McCreary County Sheriff's Office: 509 for 2025, 724 for 2024, 654 for 2023, 763 for 2022, 522 for 2021 and 363 for 2020.
The McCreary County Sheriff's Office's 509 arrests in 2025 were down 30 percent from 724 in 2024.
Through August 2026, McCreary County Sheriff's Office reported 244 arrests, against 371 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in McCreary County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in McCreary 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.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the McCreary County Sheriff's Office at mccrearysheriff.com/inmate-search (page title: McCreary County Inmate Search, Jail Rosters), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Kentucky Department of Corrections lists its inmates at kool.corrections.ky.gov/.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in McCreary County
Whether someone was arrested in McCreary County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the McCreary County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the McCreary 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/McCreary.aspx, phone 606-376-5041); the Commonwealth's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at mccrearycountyattorney.com).
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 McCreary 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 McCreary County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest by McCreary County Schools: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Commonwealth's Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the McCreary Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 606-376-5041.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in McCreary County each year?
The McCreary County Sheriff's Office reported 509 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in McCreary County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the McCreary County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in McCreary 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 McCreary County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the McCreary 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 McCreary 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.