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 30, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, has about 81,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office, seven 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 St. Landry 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: St. Landry Parish public records, Louisiana arrest records, Louisiana inmate search and Louisiana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in St. Landry Parish
The St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for St. Landry Parish. It reported 232 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside seven 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:
- Opelousas, 15,176 residents: 1,339 arrests reported for 2025.
- Eunice, 9,044 residents: 724 arrests reported for 2020.
- Port Barre, 1,740 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Arnaudville, 999 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2021.
- Krotz Springs, 875 residents: 30 arrests reported for 2025.
- Melville, 740 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Washington, 711 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 one more agency in St. Landry Parish: Louisiana State University at Eunice (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in St. Landry 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.
- 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.
- Melville: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Washington: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Port Barre: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office: 232 for 2025, 340 for 2024, 287 for 2023, 284 for 2021, 758 for 2020 and 726 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Krotz Springs: 30 for 2025, 39 for 2024, 48 for 2023, 37 for 2022, 66 for 2021 and 183 for 2020.
- Eunice: 724 for 2020 and 989 for 2019.
- Arnaudville: 1 for 2021.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,057 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,057 in 2025 against 5,278 in 2024, down 4.2 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in St. Landry Parish Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in St. Landry Parish 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 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 St. Landry Parish
Whether someone was arrested in St. Landry Parish, and what came of it, shows up in two places: 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 St. Landry 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 St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Opelousas, Eunice, Port Barre, Arnaudville, Krotz Springs, Melville or another of the cities listed above: 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 Louisiana State University at Eunice: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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.
Cities in St. Landry Parish: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for seven of the 12 cities in St. Landry Parish: Opelousas, Eunice, Port Barre, Arnaudville, Krotz Springs, Melville and Washington. Sunset, Leonville, Grand Coteau, Cankton and Palmetto have 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 St. Landry Parish.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in St. Landry Parish, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Opelousas (15,176)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in St. Landry Parish each year?
Opelousas reported 1,339 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,057 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in St. Landry Parish?
Ask the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at stlandry.lavns.org.
Where are people arrested in St. Landry Parish 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 St. Landry Parish?
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 St. Landry Parish?
From the agency that made the arrest: the St. Landry 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 St. Landry 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.