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 October 9, 2026.
Warren County, Kentucky, has about 148,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Warren County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and three campus, state or 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 Warren 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: Warren County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Warren County
The Warren County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Warren County. It reported 1,706 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Warren County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Bowling Green, 79,076 residents: 3,758 arrests reported for 2025.
- Smiths Grove, 829 residents: 81 arrests reported for 2025.
- Woodburn, 331 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 Warren County: Western Kentucky University (campus police); Warren County Drug Task Force and Bowling Green Fire Department, Arson Investigation (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Warren 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.
- Bowling Green: 3,758 for 2025, 3,838 for 2024, 3,763 for 2023, 3,908 for 2022, 3,640 for 2021 and 3,247 for 2020.
- Warren County Sheriff's Office: 1,706 for 2025, 1,921 for 2024, 2,066 for 2023, 1,988 for 2022, 1,689 for 2021 and 1,232 for 2020.
- Smiths Grove: 81 for 2025, 63 for 2024, 44 for 2023, 52 for 2022, 38 for 2021 and 17 for 2020.
- Woodburn: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,545 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,545 in 2025 against 5,822 in 2024, down 4.8 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,164 arrests, against 3,788 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Warren County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Warren 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 590 people on an average day, down from about 700 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 562 beds, and it is running at 104 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 Warren County
Whether someone was arrested in Warren County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Warren 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/Warren.aspx, phone 270-746-7400); the Commonwealth's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at bgkyprosecutor.com, phone 270-746-7485).
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 Warren 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 Warren County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Bowling Green, Smiths Grove or Woodburn: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Western Kentucky University, Warren County Drug Task Force or Bowling Green Fire Department, Arson Investigation: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Commonwealth's Attorney, 270-746-7485, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Warren Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 270-746-7400.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at warrencountyclerk.ky.gov (page title: Open Records Requests | Warren County Clerk).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Warren County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Warren County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the five cities in Warren County: Bowling Green, Smiths Grove and Woodburn. Plum Springs and Oakland have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Warren Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Warren County each year?
Bowling Green reported 3,758 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,545 between them.
Where are people arrested in Warren County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Warren County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Warren 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 Warren County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Warren 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 warrencountyclerk.ky.gov.
Is this the official Warren 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.