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.
Atchison County, Missouri, has about 5,100 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Atchison County Sheriff's Office and two 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 Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Atchison 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: Atchison County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Atchison County
The Atchison County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Atchison County. It reported 37 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Tarkio, 1,470 residents: 80 arrests reported for 2019.
- Rock Port, 1,238 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2024.
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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Atchison County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Rock Port: 3 for 2024, 3 for 2023, 21 for 2022 and 82 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Atchison County Sheriff's Office: 37 for 2025, 5 for 2022, 22 for 2020 and 8 for 2019; 2021, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Tarkio: 80 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2022 on file reported 26 arrests that year.
Tarkio reported only part of 2022 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Atchison County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Atchison County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 5 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 11 beds, and it ran at 45 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Atchison County
For Atchison County the place to look is Case.net, the Missouri courts' free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed.
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 Atchison County
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 Atchison County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Tarkio or Rock Port: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Atchison County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the five cities in Atchison County: Tarkio and Rock Port. Fairfax, Westboro and Watson 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 Atchison County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Atchison County each year?
Rock Port reported 3 arrests to the FBI for 2024. For 2022, the latest year most of the agencies in Atchison County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 26 between them.
Where are people arrested in Atchison County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Atchison County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Atchison 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 Atchison County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Atchison 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.
Is this the official Atchison 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.