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 2024. 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 October 9, 2026.
Festus, Missouri, in Jefferson County, has about 14,000 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 Jefferson 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: Festus public records, Jefferson County arrest records, Missouri arrest records and Missouri inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Festus
The FBI lists Festus with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Festus Police Department. It reported 339 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year. 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 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,731 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Jefferson County: Jefferson College (campus police); the Dunklin R-5 School District (other).
How Many Arrests Festus 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.
- Festus: 339 for 2024, 453 for 2023, 265 for 2021, 295 for 2020 and 733 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
Festus's 339 arrests in 2024 were down 25 percent from 453 in 2023.
Across Jefferson County, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,576 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Festus Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Festus 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 2019 the jail held about 320 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 371 beds, and it ran at 86 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 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at jeffcomo.gov/m/directory/department?did=50 (page title: Staff Directory, Sheriff), phone 636-797-5000, 400 First Street Justice Center Hillsboro, MO 63050, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
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 Festus
An arrest in Festus can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Jefferson County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at jeffcomo.gov/670/Circuit-Court, phone (636) 797-6069); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at jeffcomo.gov/230/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 636-797-5321).
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 Festus
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 Festus police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at festusmo.gov/m/directory/department?did=11 (page title: Staff Directory, Police Department), phone 636-937-5184, 100 Park Avenue Festus, MO 63028, Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 636-797-5000.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 636-797-5321, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Jefferson County Circuit Court, through the court records page at jeffcomo.gov/670/Circuit-Court, phone (636) 797-6069.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at jeffcomo.gov/719/Public-Records-Requests (page title: Public Records Requests | Jefferson County, MO).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Jefferson County guide covers every agency in the county: Jefferson County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Festus each year?
Festus reported 339 arrests to the FBI for 2024, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Festus?
Ask the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at 636-797-5000; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at jeffcomo.gov/m/directory/department?did=50.
Where are people arrested in Festus booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Festus?
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 Festus?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Festus police for its own arrests, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Missouri Sunshine Law the answer is due within 3 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at jeffcomo.gov/719/Public-Records-Requests.
Is this the official Festus 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.