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 on September 24, 2026.
Mercer County, Kentucky, has about 24,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Mercer County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies 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 Mercer 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: Mercer County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Mercer County
The Mercer County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Mercer County. It reported 104 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Harrodsburg, 9,491 residents: 412 arrests reported for 2025.
- Burgin, 1,017 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.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Mercer County: Mercer County Schools and the Burgin Independent School District (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Mercer County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Harrodsburg: 412 for 2025, 545 for 2024, 566 for 2023, 419 for 2022, 471 for 2021 and 409 for 2020.
- Mercer County Sheriff's Office: 104 for 2025, 159 for 2024, 145 for 2023, 119 for 2022, 121 for 2021 and 116 for 2020.
- Burgin: 0 for 2025, 2 for 2024, 13 for 2023, 25 for 2022, 1 for 2021 and 2 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 516 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 516 in 2025 against 706 in 2024, down 27 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 213 arrests, against 357 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Mercer County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Mercer 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.
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 Mercer County
For Mercer County the place to look is the case index of the Mercer 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/Mercer.aspx, phone 859-734-8452).
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 Mercer 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 Mercer County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Harrodsburg or Burgin: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Mercer County Schools or the Burgin Independent School District: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Mercer Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 859-734-8452.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Mercer County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Mercer County: Harrodsburg and Burgin.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Mercer Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Mercer County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Harrodsburg (9,491)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Mercer County each year?
Harrodsburg reported 412 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 516 between them.
Where are people arrested in Mercer County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Mercer County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Mercer 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 Mercer County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Mercer 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 Mercer 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.