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 27, 2026 and October 1, 2026.
Lincoln County, Maine, has about 36,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and four 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 Lincoln 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 and common questions.
Related guides: Lincoln County public records, Maine arrest records, Maine inmate search and Maine criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lincoln County
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lincoln County. It reported 384 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lincoln 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.
- Waldoboro: 200 for 2025, 182 for 2024, 111 for 2023, 93 for 2022, 112 for 2021 and 116 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Wiscasset: 200 for 2025, 162 for 2024, 257 for 2023, 169 for 2022, 189 for 2021 and 155 for 2020.
- Boothbay Harbor: 42 for 2025, 54 for 2024, 35 for 2023, 50 for 2022, 64 for 2021 and 61 for 2020.
- Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: 384 for 2024, 355 for 2023, 323 for 2022, 331 for 2021, 326 for 2020 and 418 for 2019.
- Damariscotta: 84 for 2024, 98 for 2023, 62 for 2022, 80 for 2021, 126 for 2020 and 108 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 442 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 442 in 2025 against 398 in 2024, up 11 percent.
Through June 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 218 arrests, against 186 in the same months of 2025.
Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and Damariscotta reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 6 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lincoln County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lincoln 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 76 people, up from about 68 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 100 beds, and it ran at 69 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx (page title: Lincoln County Sheriffs Office P2C), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 27, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Maine Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at apps1.web.maine.gov/online/correctionssearch.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Lincoln County
Whether someone was arrested in Lincoln County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Lincoln 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/courts/district/lincoln-dc.html, phone (207) 794-8512); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at lcnme.com/119520/currentnews/district-attorney-touts-experience-res...).
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 Lincoln County
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 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- 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 Lincoln County Superior Court, through the court records page at courts.maine.gov, phone (207) 794-8512.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lincoln County each year?
Waldoboro reported 200 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 442 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lincoln County?
Ask the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx.
Where are people arrested in Lincoln County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lincoln 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 Lincoln County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lincoln 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.
Is this the official Lincoln 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.