Carroll County Arrest Records: Who Makes Arrests, Where People Are Booked and How to Get the Report

Who Makes Arrests in Carroll County

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Carroll County. It reported 462 arrests for 2022, its latest complete year.

The FBI lists six cities in Carroll County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:

• Westminster, 20,662 residents: 114 arrests reported for 2022.
• Mount Airy, 9,914 residents: 129 arrests reported for 2020.
• Taneytown, 8,293 residents: 22 arrests reported for 2025.
• Hampstead, 6,288 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2025.
• Manchester, 5,440 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
• Sykesville, 4,622 residents: 16 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 Carroll County: the Carroll County State Police (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Carroll County

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.

• Carroll County Sheriff's Office: 462 for 2022, 1,786 for 2020 and 2,426 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Westminster: 114 for 2022, 522 for 2020 and 817 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Taneytown: 22 for 2025, 31 for 2024, 73 for 2023, 104 for 2022, 55 for 2020 and 89 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Hampstead: 1 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 7 for 2023, 10 for 2022, 73 for 2020 and 95 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Manchester: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 3 for 2022, 41 for 2020 and 71 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Mount Airy: 129 for 2020 and 161 for 2019.
• Sykesville: 16 for 2025, 21 for 2024, 12 for 2023, 25 for 2020 and 57 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.

Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2022 on file reported 693 arrests that year.

Sykesville reported only part of 2022 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Carroll County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Carroll County 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 2024 the jail held about 190 people, up from about 180 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 185 beds, and it ran at 99 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 Carroll County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.carrollcountymd.gov (page title: Carroll County Sheriff’s Office), phone 410-386-2920, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.

How to Find Out About an Arrest in Carroll County

An arrest in Carroll County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Circuit Court for Carroll County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.state.md.us/clerks/carroll, phone 410-386-8710); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at carrollcountymd.gov/government/directory/county-attorney).

Statewide, Maryland Judiciary Case Search is the free statewide case search of every Maryland court.

Maryland does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Criminal Justice Information System 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 Carroll County

An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Maryland Public Information Act the agency must answer within 30 days, with a denial due within 10 working days, and it may charge staff time after the first two hours, plus copying.

• An arrest by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 410-386-2920.
• An arrest in Westminster, Mount Airy, Taneytown, Hampstead, Manchester or Sykesville: 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 the Carroll County State Police: the records office of the agency involved.
• A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
• The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court for Carroll County, through the court records page at courts.state.md.us/clerks/carroll, phone 410-386-8710.
• Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the CJIS Central Repository.

Cities in Carroll County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the eight cities in Carroll County: Westminster, Mount Airy, Taneytown, Hampstead, Manchester and Sykesville. New Windsor and Union Bridge have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.

Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Circuit Court for Carroll County.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Carroll County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

• Westminster (20,662)
• Mount Airy (9,914)
• Hampstead (6,288)

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Carroll County each year?

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office reported 462 arrests to the FBI for 2022, and the five agencies with every month of 2022 on file reported 693 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Carroll County?

Ask the Carroll County Sheriff's Office at 410-386-2920; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriff.carrollcountymd.gov.

Where are people arrested in Carroll County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Carroll County?

The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Carroll County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Criminal Justice Information System is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Maryland Public Information Act.

How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Carroll County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Carroll County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Maryland Public Information Act the answer is due within 30 days, with a denial due within 10 working days.

Is this the official Carroll 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.