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 on September 23, 2026.
Caldwell County, Missouri, has about 9,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Caldwell 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 Caldwell 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: Caldwell County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Caldwell County
The Caldwell County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Caldwell County. It reported 78 arrests for 2022, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists two cities in Caldwell County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Hamilton, 1,741 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
- Polo, 508 residents: 0 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Caldwell 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.
- Hamilton: 3 for 2025, 37 for 2021, 62 for 2020 and 141 for 2019; 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Polo: 0 for 2025.
- Caldwell County Sheriff's Office: 78 for 2022, 118 for 2021, 98 for 2020 and 111 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3 arrests that year.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 5 arrests, against 2 in the same months of 2025.
Caldwell County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Caldwell County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Caldwell 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 2020 the jail held about 120 people, down from about 150 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2020 was 175 beds, and it ran at 69 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 Caldwell County Sheriff's Office at caldwellcosdmo.gov/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_time=desc/1 (page title: Inmate Roster | Caldwell County MO Sheriff's Department | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), phone 816-586-2681, 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 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 Caldwell County
An arrest in Caldwell County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Caldwell 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 caldwellcosdmo.gov/prosecutors-office, phone (816) 586-2511).
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 Caldwell 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 Caldwell County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 816-586-2681.
- An arrest in Hamilton or Polo: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (816) 586-2511, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at caldwellcosdmo.gov/record-requests (page title: Record Requests | Caldwell County MO Sheriff's Department).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Caldwell County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the seven cities in Caldwell County: Hamilton and Polo. Braymer, Kingston, Kidder, Breckenridge and Cowgill 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 Caldwell County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Caldwell County each year?
Hamilton reported 3 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Caldwell County?
Look on the custody page of the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office at caldwellcosdmo.gov, or call 816-586-2681. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Caldwell County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Caldwell 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 Caldwell County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Caldwell 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 caldwellcosdmo.gov/record-requests.
Is this the official Caldwell 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.