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 between September 24, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Pendleton County, Kentucky, has about 15,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Pendleton County Sheriff's Office and two city 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 Pendleton 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: Pendleton County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Pendleton County
The Pendleton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Pendleton County. It reported 100 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Pendleton County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Falmouth, 2,206 residents: 116 arrests reported for 2024.
- Butler, 639 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 Pendleton 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.
- Pendleton County Sheriff's Office: 100 for 2025, 119 for 2024, 181 for 2023, 144 for 2022, 189 for 2021 and 120 for 2020.
- Butler: 0 for 2025, 1 for 2024 and 0 for 2023.
- Falmouth: 116 for 2024, 76 for 2022, 157 for 2021, 218 for 2020 and 238 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 100 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 100 in 2025 against 120 in 2024, down 17 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 80 arrests, against 61 in the same months of 2025.
Falmouth reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Pendleton County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Pendleton 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 2024 the jail held about 42 people, down from about 53 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 47 beds, and it ran at 90 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 Pendleton County Sheriff's Office at sheriff-pendletoncounty.ky.gov/Prisoners%20and%20Wanted%20Persons/P... (page title: Prisoner's and Wanted Persons | Sheriff Pendleton County), phone (859) 654-4444, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Pendleton County
For Pendleton County the place to look is the case index of the Pendleton 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/Pendleton.aspx, phone 859-654-3347).
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 Pendleton 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 Pendleton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (859) 654-4444.
- An arrest in Falmouth or Butler: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Pendleton Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 859-654-3347.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at pendletoncounty.ky.gov (page title: Open Records Request | Pendleton County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Pendleton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Pendleton County: Falmouth and Butler.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Pendleton Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Pendleton County each year?
The Pendleton County Sheriff's Office reported 100 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 100 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Pendleton County?
Ask the Pendleton County Sheriff's Office at (859) 654-4444; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriff-pendletoncounty.ky.gov.
Where are people arrested in Pendleton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Pendleton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Pendleton 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 Pendleton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Pendleton 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 pendletoncounty.ky.gov.
Is this the official Pendleton 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.