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.
Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, has about 158,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and two 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 parish jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the District Court for Ouachita 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: Ouachita Parish public records, Louisiana arrest records, Louisiana inmate search and Louisiana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Ouachita Parish
The Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Ouachita Parish. It reported 1,988 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Ouachita Parish with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Monroe, 46,622 residents: 2,869 arrests reported for 2025.
- West Monroe, 12,476 residents: 774 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sterlington, 2,557 residents: 1,152 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 Ouachita Parish: the University of Louisiana at Monroe (campus police); the Tensas Basin Levee District (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Ouachita 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.
- Monroe: 2,869 for 2025, 2,699 for 2024, 2,586 for 2023, 2,662 for 2022, 2,201 for 2021 and 2,183 for 2020.
- Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office: 1,988 for 2025, 2,225 for 2024, 2,565 for 2023, 2,259 for 2022, 2,540 for 2021 and 2,245 for 2020.
- Sterlington: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- West Monroe: 774 for 2025, 991 for 2024, 940 for 2023, 1,049 for 2022, 821 for 2021 and 811 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 6,783 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 6,783 in 2025 against 7,067 in 2024, down 4 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 4,230 arrests, against 3,928 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ouachita Parish Are Held
The parish jail is where a person arrested in Ouachita 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 2023 the jail held about 1,320 people, up from about 1,280 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,312 beds, and it ran at 100 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office at opso.net/bookings (page title: Bookings | Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections lists its inmates at doc.la.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Ouachita Parish
Whether someone was arrested in Ouachita Parish, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the parish jail; the case index of the District Court for Ouachita Parish, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at opclerkofcourt.com); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-laed-2_09-cv-03246).
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 Ouachita Parish
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 Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Monroe, West Monroe or Sterlington: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the University of Louisiana at Monroe or the Tensas Basin Levee District: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the District Court for Ouachita Parish, through the court records page at opclerkofcourt.com.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Cities in Ouachita Parish: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the four cities in Ouachita Parish: Monroe, West Monroe and Sterlington. Richwood 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 Ouachita Parish.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ouachita Parish each year?
Monroe reported 2,869 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 6,783 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ouachita Parish?
Look on the custody page of the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office at opso.net/bookings. It covers people booked into the parish jail.
Where are people arrested in Ouachita Parish booked?
Those kept in custody go to the parish jail, run by the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ouachita Parish?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Ouachita 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 Ouachita Parish?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ouachita 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 Ouachita 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.