Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 26, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Opelousas, Louisiana, in St. Landry Parish, has about 15,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the parish jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the District Court for St. Landry Parish. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Opelousas public records, St. Landry Parish arrest records, Louisiana arrest records and Louisiana inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Opelousas
The FBI lists Opelousas with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Opelousas Police Department. It reported 1,339 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 232 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in St. Landry Parish: Louisiana State University at Eunice (campus police).
How Many Arrests Opelousas 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.
- Opelousas: 1,339 for 2025, 1,443 for 2024, 2,014 for 2023, 1,591 for 2022, 1,467 for 2021 and 2,766 for 2020.
Opelousas's 1,339 arrests in 2025 were down 7.2 percent from 1,443 in 2024.
Across St. Landry Parish, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,057 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Opelousas Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Opelousas is held at the parish 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.
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 280 people, down from about 280 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 244 beds, and it ran at 113 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 St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office at stlandry.lavns.org (page title: St. Landry Parish Jail), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.la.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Opelousas
An arrest in Opelousas can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the District Court for St. Landry Parish, kept by the Clerk of Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at stlandryda.org, phone (337) 948-3041).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the parish, at stlandry.org/docunet-service/eclerksla-registration-2 (page title: Criminal, Traffic, Civil, & Probate Records (ClerkConnect)), phone (337) 942-5606, belongs to a lower court, not to the District Court for St. Landry Parish.
Louisiana does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Opelousas
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Louisiana Public Records Law the agency must answer within 3 business days when the record is not immediately available, and it may charge a reasonable fee for copies.
- An arrest by the Opelousas police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at opelousaspolicedept.com (page title: Opelousas Police Department), phone (337) 948-2500, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (337) 948-3041, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the District Court for St. Landry Parish it is kept by the Clerk of Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the parish, at stlandry.org, phone (337) 942-5606, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
The St. Landry Parish guide covers every agency in the parish: St. Landry Parish arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Opelousas each year?
Opelousas reported 1,339 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Opelousas?
Ask the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at stlandry.lavns.org.
Where are people arrested in Opelousas booked?
Those kept in custody go to the parish jail, run by the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Opelousas?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for St. Landry Parish are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Louisiana Public Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Opelousas?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Opelousas police for its own arrests, the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Louisiana Public Records Law the answer is due within 3 business days when the record is not immediately available.
Is this the official Opelousas website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, parish, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.