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 1, 2026.
Whitley County, Kentucky, has about 37,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Whitley County Sheriff's Office, one other county agency, 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 Whitley 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: Whitley County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Whitley County
The Whitley County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Whitley County. It reported 370 arrests for 2025.
The Whitley County Police Department also reports arrests to the FBI as another county agency of Whitley County.
The FBI lists two cities in Whitley County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Corbin, 7,891 residents: 744 arrests reported for 2025.
- Williamsburg, 5,332 residents: 397 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 Whitley County: CSX Railroad and the Corbin Independent School Police (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Whitley 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.
- Corbin: 744 for 2025, 1,147 for 2024, 1,155 for 2023, 1,070 for 2022, 942 for 2021 and 1,544 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Williamsburg: 397 for 2025, 460 for 2024, 574 for 2023, 801 for 2022, 692 for 2021 and 457 for 2020.
- Whitley County Sheriff's Office: 370 for 2025, 561 for 2024, 1,048 for 2023, 723 for 2022, 832 for 2021 and 731 for 2020.
- Whitley County Police Department: 0 for 2025 and 0 for 2024.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,511 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,511 in 2025 against 2,168 in 2024, down 30 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 881 arrests, against 919 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Whitley County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Whitley 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 220 people on an average day, down from about 300 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 184 beds, and it is running at 122 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Whitley County Sheriff's Office at scanwc.com/jail-bookings (page title: SWO | Jail Bookings), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 2026.
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 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 Whitley County
An arrest in Whitley County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Whitley County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Whitley 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/Whitley.aspx, phone 606-549-2973).
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 Whitley 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 Whitley County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Corbin or Williamsburg: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by CSX Railroad or the Corbin Independent School Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Whitley Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 606-549-2973.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Whitley County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Whitley County: Corbin and Williamsburg.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Whitley Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Whitley County each year?
Corbin reported 744 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,511 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Whitley County?
Look on the custody page of the Whitley County Sheriff's Office at scanwc.com/jail-bookings. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Whitley County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Whitley County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Whitley 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 Whitley County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Whitley 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 Whitley 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.