SearchSystems Editorial

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.

About this guide

Clay County, Missouri, has about 263,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clay County Sheriff's Office and nine 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 Clay 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: Clay County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Clay County

The Clay County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clay County. It reported 1,626 arrests for 2025.

The FBI lists nine cities in Clay County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:

  • Liberty, 31,245 residents: 352 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Gladstone, 27,579 residents: 1,412 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Kearney, 11,215 residents: 141 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Smithville, 10,971 residents: 98 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Excelsior Springs, 10,727 residents: 500 arrests reported for 2025.
  • North Kansas City, 5,630 residents: 395 arrests reported for 2023.
  • Pleasant Valley, 2,750 residents: 149 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Claycomo, 1,370 residents: 348 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Oakview, 365 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.

The Lawson Police Department and the Kansas City Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Clay County, so their arrests are not broken out for Clay County here.

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Clay 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.

  • Clay County Sheriff's Office: 1,626 for 2025, 1,024 for 2024, 318 for 2023, 332 for 2022, 297 for 2021 and 471 for 2020.
  • Gladstone: 1,412 for 2025, 1,643 for 2024, 1,142 for 2023, 1,207 for 2022, 947 for 2021 and 1,302 for 2020.
  • Excelsior Springs: 500 for 2025, 542 for 2023, 388 for 2022, 659 for 2021, 929 for 2020 and 1,587 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
  • Claycomo: 348 for 2025, 425 for 2024 and 336 for 2021; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Pleasant Valley: 149 for 2025, 164 for 2024, 110 for 2023, 229 for 2022, 209 for 2021 and 269 for 2020.
  • Kearney: 141 for 2025, 115 for 2023, 78 for 2022, 117 for 2021, 202 for 2020 and 246 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
  • Smithville: 98 for 2025, 110 for 2024, 220 for 2023, 343 for 2022, 325 for 2021 and 324 for 2020.
  • Oakview: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023 and 7 for 2022.
  • North Kansas City: 395 for 2023, 418 for 2022, 456 for 2021, 336 for 2020 and 336 for 2019.
  • Liberty: 352 for 2024, 301 for 2023, 202 for 2022 and 738 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.

Together, the eight agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,274 arrests that year. The five of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,007 in 2025 against 2,342 in 2024, down 14 percent.

Through July 2026, the eight agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,821 arrests, against 2,609 in the same months of 2025.

North Kansas City and Liberty reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Clay County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Clay 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 2023 the jail held about 180 people, down from about 340 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 380 beds, and it ran at 47 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 Clay County Sheriff's Office at sheriffclayco.org/how-do-i/find-out-if-someone-is-in-jail (page title: How Do I Find If Someone is in Jail? | Clay County Sheriff's Office), phone 816-407-3800, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.

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 Clay County

An arrest in Clay County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: 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 claycountymo.gov/485/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 816-736-8300).

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 Clay 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 Clay County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 816-407-3800.
  • An arrest in Liberty, Gladstone, Kearney, Smithville, Excelsior Springs, North Kansas City or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 816-736-8300, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at claycountymo.gov (page title: CLAY COUNTY ASSESSOR'S OFFICE 1 Courthouse Square Liberty, MO 64068-2390).
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in Clay County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for nine of the 20 cities in Clay County: Liberty, Gladstone, Kearney, Smithville, Excelsior Springs, North Kansas City, Pleasant Valley, Claycomo and Oakview. Glenaire, Holt, Avondale, Missouri City, Oakwood, Birmingham, Oakwood Park, Oaks, Prathersville, Mosby and Randolph 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 Clay County Circuit Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Clay County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Clay County each year?

The Clay County Sheriff's Office reported 1,626 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the eight agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,274 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Clay County?

Ask the Clay County Sheriff's Office at 816-407-3800; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriffclayco.org.

Where are people arrested in Clay County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clay County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Clay 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 Clay County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Clay 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 claycountymo.gov.

Is this the official Clay 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.