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 September 28, 2026.
Cole County, Missouri, has about 78,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cole County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and three 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 Cole 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: Cole County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Cole County
The Cole County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cole County. It reported 393 arrests for 2022, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Cole County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Jefferson City, 42,564 residents: 1,602 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 FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Cole County: the Marshal's Office's 19th Judicial District (other); the Capitol Police (state agency); Lincoln University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Jefferson City Reports
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.
- Jefferson City: 1,602 for 2025, 1,990 for 2024, 1,766 for 2023, 1,692 for 2022, 1,664 for 2021 and 1,636 for 2020.
- Cole County Sheriff's Office: 393 for 2022, 419 for 2021, 547 for 2020 and 1,049 for 2019.
Jefferson City's 1,990 arrests in 2024 were up 13 percent from 1,766 in 2023.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cole County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Cole 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 2022 the jail held about 160 people, down from about 180 in 2018. Its rated capacity in 2022 was 208 beds, and it ran at 75 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 Cole County Sheriff's Office at colecounty.org/245/Jail (page title: Jail | Cole County, MO), phone 573-634-9160, 350 E High Street Jefferson City, MO 65101, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 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 Cole County
An arrest in Cole County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Cole County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at colecounty.org/354/Calendars-and-Dockets); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at colecounty.org/180/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 573-634-9180).
Statewide, Case.net is the Missouri courts' free statewide case search.
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 Cole 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 Cole County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 573-634-9160.
- An arrest in Jefferson City: 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 the Marshal's Office's 19th Judicial District, the Capitol Police or Lincoln University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 573-634-9180, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Cole County Circuit Court, through the court records page at colecounty.org/354/Calendars-and-Dockets.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at colecounty.org (page title: Records Request Form Submitted | Cole County, MO).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Cole County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the eight cities in Cole County: Jefferson City. Wardsville, St. Martins, Taos, Russellville, Centertown, St. Thomas and Lohman 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 Cole County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Cole County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Jefferson City (42,564)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cole County each year?
Jefferson City reported 1,602 arrests to the FBI for 2025.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cole County?
Ask the Cole County Sheriff's Office at 573-634-9160; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at colecounty.org/245/Jail.
Where are people arrested in Cole County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cole County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cole 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 Cole County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cole 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 colecounty.org.
Is this the official Cole 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.