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.
Boone County, Missouri, has about 192,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Boone County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and two campus, state or other 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 Boone 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: Boone County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Boone County
The Boone County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Boone County. It reported 896 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside four 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:
- Columbia, 130,900 residents: 3,126 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ashland, 5,164 residents: 61 arrests reported for 2025.
- Centralia, 4,807 residents: 60 arrests reported for 2023.
- Hallsville, 1,766 residents: 24 arrests reported for 2022.
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 these agencies in Boone County: the University of Missouri at Columbia (campus police); the 13th Judicial Court Marshal (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Boone 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.
- Columbia: 3,126 for 2025, 3,130 for 2024, 3,095 for 2023, 3,441 for 2022, 3,414 for 2021 and 3,092 for 2020.
- Boone County Sheriff's Office: 896 for 2025, 1,136 for 2024, 1,141 for 2023, 1,129 for 2022, 970 for 2021 and 927 for 2020.
- Ashland: 61 for 2025, 66 for 2024, 40 for 2023, 103 for 2022, 64 for 2021 and 29 for 2020.
- Centralia: 60 for 2023, 76 for 2022, 81 for 2020 and 311 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Hallsville: 24 for 2022 and 36 for 2021.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,083 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,083 in 2025 against 4,332 in 2024, down 5.7 percent.
Through May 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,473 arrests, against 1,697 in the same months of 2025.
Centralia and Hallsville reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 10 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Boone County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Boone 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 2021 the jail held about 260 people, up from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 246 beds, and it ran at 89 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 Boone County Sheriff's Office at report.boonemo.gov/mrcjava/servlet/RMS01_MP.I00030s (page title: Current Detainees of Boone County Jail), phone (573) 875-1111, 2121 County Dr. Columbia, MO 65202, 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 Boone County
An arrest in Boone County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Boone 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 boonemo.gov/pa, phone (573) 886-4100).
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 Boone 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 Boone County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (573) 875-1111.
- An arrest in Columbia, Ashland, Centralia or Hallsville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the University of Missouri at Columbia or the 13th Judicial Court Marshal: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (573) 886-4100, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at boonemo.gov (page title: Records Requests | Resource Management).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Boone County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the 11 cities in Boone County: Columbia, Ashland, Centralia and Hallsville. Sturgeon, Harrisburg, Rocheport, Hartsburg, Pierpont, Huntsdale and McBaine 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 Boone County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Boone County each year?
Columbia reported 3,126 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,083 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Boone County?
Look on the custody page of the Boone County Sheriff's Office at report.boonemo.gov, or call (573) 875-1111. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Boone County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Boone County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Boone 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 Boone County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Boone 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 boonemo.gov.
Is this the official Boone 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.