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 October 2, 2026.
Jackson, Missouri, in Cape Girardeau County, has about 16,000 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 Cape Girardeau 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: Jackson public records, Cape Girardeau County arrest records, Missouri arrest records and Missouri inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Jackson
The FBI lists Jackson with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Jackson Police Department. It reported 296 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 Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 313 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Cape Girardeau County: Southeast Missouri State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Jackson 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.
- Jackson: 296 for 2025, 300 for 2024, 296 for 2023, 287 for 2022 and 227 for 2021.
Jackson's 296 arrests in 2025 were down 1.3 percent from 300 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Jackson reported 172 arrests, against 212 in the same months of 2025.
Across Cape Girardeau County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,975 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Jackson Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Jackson 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 2021 the jail held about 220 people, up from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 225 beds, and it ran at 97 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 Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office at capecountysheriff.org/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_time=de... (page title: Inmate Roster | Cape Girardeau County MO Sheriff's Office | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), phone 573.204.2933, 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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Missouri Department of Corrections lists its inmates at web.mo.gov/doc/offSearchWeb.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Jackson
Whether someone was arrested in Jackson, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; Case.net, the Missouri courts' free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at capecounty.us/prosecuting-attorney, phone 573.243.2430).
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 Jackson
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 Missouri Sunshine Law the agency must answer within 3 business days, and it may charge research time and copying.
- An arrest by the Jackson police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cityofjacksonmo.gov/FormCenter/Police-Department-8/Request-for-Poli... (page title: Form Center, Request for Police Record from the Jackson Mis), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 573.204.2933.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 573.243.2430, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at capecounty.us (page title: Records and Request | Cape Girardeau County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Cape Girardeau County guide covers every agency in the county: Cape Girardeau County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Jackson each year?
Jackson reported 296 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Jackson?
Look on the custody page of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office at capecountysheriff.org, or call 573.204.2933. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Jackson booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Jackson?
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 Jackson?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Jackson police for its own arrests, the Cape Girardeau 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 capecounty.us.
Is this the official Jackson 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.