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 2, 2026.
Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, has about 84,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies 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 Cape Girardeau 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: Cape Girardeau County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Cape Girardeau County
The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cape Girardeau County. It reported 313 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside three 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:
- Cape Girardeau, 40,818 residents: 1,225 arrests reported for 2024.
- Jackson, 15,929 residents: 296 arrests reported for 2025.
- Delta, 379 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2021.
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 Cape Girardeau County: Southeast Missouri State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Cape Girardeau 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.
- Cape Girardeau: 1,225 for 2024, 1,241 for 2023, 1,090 for 2022, 1,053 for 2021 and 933 for 2020.
- Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office: 313 for 2025, 450 for 2024, 184 for 2023, 233 for 2022, 141 for 2021 and 285 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Jackson: 296 for 2025, 300 for 2024, 296 for 2023, 287 for 2022 and 227 for 2021.
- Delta: 0 for 2021, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,975 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 1,975 in 2024 against 1,721 in 2023, up 15 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cape Girardeau County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Cape Girardeau 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 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 Cape Girardeau County
An arrest in Cape Girardeau County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: 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 Cape Girardeau 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 Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 573.204.2933.
- An arrest in Cape Girardeau, Jackson or Delta: 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 Southeast Missouri State University: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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.
Cities in Cape Girardeau County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the nine cities in Cape Girardeau County: Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Delta. Gordonville, Oak Ridge, Pocahontas, Allenville, Whitewater and Old Appleton 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 Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Cape Girardeau County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Jackson (15,929)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cape Girardeau County each year?
Cape Girardeau reported 1,225 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the three agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 1,975 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cape Girardeau County?
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 Cape Girardeau County 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 Cape Girardeau 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 Cape Girardeau County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cape Girardeau 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 capecounty.us.
Is this the official Cape Girardeau 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.