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 on September 30, 2026.
Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, has about 95,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and one campus agency. An arrest 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 Lafourche Parish. 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: Lafourche Parish public records, Louisiana arrest records, Louisiana inmate search and Louisiana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lafourche Parish
The Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lafourche Parish. It reported 1,427 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the parish'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:
- Thibodaux, 15,569 residents: 722 arrests reported for 2025.
- Golden Meadow, 1,634 residents: 17 arrests reported for 2024.
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 one more agency in Lafourche Parish: Nicholls State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lafourche Parish
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.
- Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office: 1,427 for 2025, 1,556 for 2024, 1,620 for 2023, 1,643 for 2022, 1,565 for 2021 and 1,625 for 2020.
- Thibodaux: 722 for 2025, 721 for 2024, 670 for 2023, 825 for 2022, 874 for 2021 and 785 for 2020.
- Golden Meadow: 17 for 2024, 15 for 2023, 14 for 2022 and 63 for 2021.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,149 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,149 in 2025 against 2,277 in 2024, down 5.6 percent.
Through April 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 747 arrests, against 804 in the same months of 2025.
Golden Meadow reported only part of 2025 (5 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lafourche Parish Are Held
The parish jail is where a person arrested in Lafourche Parish 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 2021 the jail held about 530 people, up from about 350 in 2019. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office at lafourche.lavns.org (page title: Lafourche Parish Detention Center), 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 Lafourche Parish
For Lafourche Parish the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at lpda.org/our-office, phone (985) 447-2003).
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 Lafourche Parish
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 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 Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Thibodaux or Golden Meadow: 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 Nicholls State University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (985) 447-2003, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Cities in Lafourche Parish: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Lafourche Parish: Thibodaux and Golden Meadow. Lockport has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the parish the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the parish jail and the case goes to the District Court for Lafourche Parish.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lafourche Parish, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Thibodaux (15,569)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lafourche Parish each year?
The Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office reported 1,427 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,149 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lafourche Parish?
Ask the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lafourche.lavns.org.
Where are people arrested in Lafourche Parish booked?
Those kept in custody go to the parish jail, run by the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lafourche Parish?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Lafourche 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 Lafourche Parish?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 Lafourche Parish website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official parish, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.