Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 23, 2026 and September 25, 2026.
Branson, Missouri, in Taney County, has about 13,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Taney County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Branson public records, Taney County arrest records, Missouri arrest records and Missouri inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Branson
The FBI lists Branson with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Branson Police Department. It reported 522 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Taney County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 606 arrests for 2024.
How Many Arrests Branson Reports
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.
- Branson: 522 for 2025, 678 for 2024, 490 for 2023, 480 for 2022, 1,188 for 2020 and 1,439 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Branson's 522 arrests in 2025 were down 23 percent from 678 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Branson reported 442 arrests, against 263 in the same months of 2025.
Across Taney County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 546 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Branson Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Branson 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 180 people, down from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 268 beds, and it ran at 66 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 Taney County Sheriff's Office at taneymosheriff.gov/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_time=desc/1 (page title: Inmate Roster | Taney County Sheriff's Office | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), phone 417.546.7250, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Missouri Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at web.mo.gov/doc/offSearchWeb.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Branson
An arrest in Branson can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Taney County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Taney County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at taneycounty.org/index.php?section=departments&department=7, phone (417) 546-7230); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at taneycounty.org/index.php?section=departments&department=16).
Statewide, Case.net is the Missouri courts' free statewide case search.
Missouri is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the open record search on the MACHS site lets anyone check convictions by name, through the Missouri State Highway Patrol Criminal Justice Information Services Division. 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 Branson
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Missouri Sunshine Law the agency must answer within 3 business days, and it may charge research time and copying.
- An arrest by the Branson police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at bransonmo.gov/224/Police-Records (page title: Police Records | Branson, MO), phone 417-334-3300, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Taney County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 417.546.7250.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Taney County Circuit Court, through the court records page at taneycounty.org, phone (417) 546-7230.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Taney County guide covers every agency in the county: Taney County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Branson each year?
Branson reported 522 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Branson?
Look on the custody page of the Taney County Sheriff's Office at taneymosheriff.gov, or call 417.546.7250. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Branson booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Taney County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Branson?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Missouri State Highway Patrol Criminal Justice Information Services Division: the open record search on the MACHS site lets anyone check convictions by name. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Missouri Sunshine Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Branson?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Branson police for its own arrests, the Taney County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Missouri Sunshine Law the answer is due within 3 business days.
Is this the official Branson website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.