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 23, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Adair County, Missouri, has about 26,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Adair County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one campus agency. 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 Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Adair County Circuit 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: Adair County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Adair County
The Adair County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Adair County. It reported 2 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Adair County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Kirksville, 17,841 residents: 200 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.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Adair County: Truman State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Adair 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.
- Kirksville: 200 for 2025, 175 for 2024, 176 for 2023, 191 for 2022, 148 for 2021 and 190 for 2020.
- Adair County Sheriff's Office: 2 for 2025, 2 for 2024, 6 for 2021, 36 for 2020 and 91 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 202 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 202 in 2025 against 177 in 2024, up 14 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 212 arrests, against 112 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Adair County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Adair 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 2019 the jail held about 53 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 64 beds, and it ran at 83 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 Adair County Sheriff's Office at adaircountymissouri.com/departments/sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Adair County Missouri Government), phone (660) 665-4644, 215 N. Franklin St Kirksville, MO 63501, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Adair County
Whether someone was arrested in Adair County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: 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 adaircountymissouri.com/departments/prosecutor, phone (660) 627-3625).
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 Adair 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 Missouri Sunshine Law the agency must answer within 3 business days, and it may charge research time and copying.
- An arrest by the Adair County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (660) 665-4644.
- An arrest in Kirksville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Truman State University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (660) 627-3625, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at adaircountymissouri.com (page title: Public Records Request | Adair County Missouri Government).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Adair County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the five cities in Adair County: Kirksville. Novinger, Brashear, Millard and Gibbs have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Adair County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Adair County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Kirksville (17,841)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Adair County each year?
Kirksville reported 200 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 202 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Adair County?
Ask the Adair County Sheriff's Office at (660) 665-4644; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at adaircountymissouri.com/departments/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Adair County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Adair County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Adair County?
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 Adair County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Adair County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Missouri Sunshine Law the answer is due within 3 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at adaircountymissouri.com.
Is this the official Adair 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.