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.
Hancock County, Maine, has about 57,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hancock County Sheriff's Office and six city agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Hancock County Superior Court. 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: Hancock County public records, Maine arrest records, Maine inmate search and Maine criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hancock County
The Hancock County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hancock County. It reported 184 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Hancock County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Ellsworth, 8,822 residents: 272 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Hancock County
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.
- Ellsworth: 272 for 2025, 325 for 2024, 360 for 2023, 452 for 2022, 293 for 2021 and 530 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Bar Harbor: 194 for 2025, 158 for 2024, 188 for 2023, 132 for 2022, 93 for 2020 and 144 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Hancock County Sheriff's Office: 184 for 2025, 206 for 2024, 258 for 2023, 262 for 2022, 206 for 2021 and 248 for 2020.
- Bucksport: 108 for 2025, 143 for 2023, 151 for 2022, 134 for 2021, 311 for 2020 and 241 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Southwest Harbor: 12 for 2025, 17 for 2024, 2 for 2023, 3 for 2022, 5 for 2021 and 20 for 2020.
- Gouldsboro: 6 for 2025, 6 for 2024, 8 for 2023, 6 for 2022, 5 for 2021 and 6 for 2020.
- Winter Harbor: 3 for 2025, 1 for 2024, 2 for 2023, 9 for 2022, 10 for 2021 and 15 for 2020.
Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 779 arrests that year. The six of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 671 in 2025 against 713 in 2024, down 5.9 percent.
Through March 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 131 arrests, against 188 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hancock County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hancock County is held at the county 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 61 people, up from about 56 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 58 beds, and it ran at 105 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 Hancock County Sheriff's Office at hancockcountymaine.gov/hancock-county-sheriff-s-office (page title: Hancock County Sheriff's Office | Hancock County, Maine), phone (207) 667-7575, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Maine Department of Corrections lists its inmates at apps1.web.maine.gov/online/correctionssearch.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Hancock County
Whether someone was arrested in Hancock County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Hancock County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.maine.gov/ecourts/access.html); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at hancockcountymaine.gov/district-attorneys-office, phone 207-667-4621).
Maine is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction records are public and can be requested on anyone by name, through the Maine State Police State Bureau of Identification. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Hancock 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 Maine Freedom of Access Act the agency must answer within a reasonable time, after acknowledging the request within 5 working days, and it may charge staff time after the first two hours, plus copying.
- An arrest by the Hancock County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (207) 667-7575.
- An arrest in Ellsworth: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 207-667-4621, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Hancock County Superior Court, through the court records page at courts.maine.gov/ecourts/access.html.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hancockcountymaine.gov (page title: Freedom of Access Act Requests | Hancock County, Maine).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Hancock County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Ellsworth, the one city in Hancock County. The FBI's list also carries the Southwest Harbor Police Department, the Gouldsboro Police Department, the Winter Harbor Police Department and two more as city agencies in Hancock County; Southwest Harbor, Gouldsboro, Winter Harbor and two more are not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Hancock County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hancock County each year?
Ellsworth reported 272 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 779 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hancock County?
Ask the Hancock County Sheriff's Office at (207) 667-7575; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at hancockcountymaine.gov.
Where are people arrested in Hancock County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hancock County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hancock County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Maine State Police State Bureau of Identification: conviction records are public and can be requested on anyone by name. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Maine Freedom of Access Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Hancock County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hancock County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Maine Freedom of Access Act the answer is due within a reasonable time, after acknowledging the request within 5 working days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hancockcountymaine.gov.
Is this the official Hancock 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.