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.
Cooper County, Missouri, has about 17,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cooper County Sheriff's Office and four 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 Cooper 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: Cooper County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Cooper County
The Cooper County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cooper County. It reported 8 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:
- Boonville, 7,863 residents: 130 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pilot Grove, 690 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Otterville, 449 residents.
- Prairie Home, 266 residents: 4 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 Cooper County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Boonville: 130 for 2025, 117 for 2024, 128 for 2023, 189 for 2022, 149 for 2021 and 202 for 2020.
- Cooper County Sheriff's Office: 8 for 2025, 21 for 2023, 26 for 2021 and 444 for 2019; 2020, 2022 and 2024 are missing months.
- Prairie Home: 4 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023 and 1 for 2022.
- Pilot Grove: 0 for 2025, 10 for 2020 and 3 for 2019; 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 142 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 134 in 2025 against 117 in 2024, up 15 percent.
Through April 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 31 arrests, against 35 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cooper County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Cooper 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 34 people, down from about 55 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 57 beds, and it ran at 96 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 Cooper County Sheriff's Office at coopermosheriff.com/detentionunit.html (page title: Cooper County Sheriff's Department), phone 660-882-2771, 200 Main Street Boonville, MO 65233, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Cooper County
An arrest in Cooper County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Cooper County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at coopercountymo.gov/circuit-court.html, phone 660-882-2232); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at coopercountymo.gov/prosecuting-attorney.html, phone 660-882-7577).
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 Cooper 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 Cooper County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 660-882-2771.
- An arrest in Boonville, Pilot Grove, Otterville or Prairie Home: 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, 660-882-7577, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Cooper County Circuit Court, through the court records page at coopercountymo.gov/circuit-court.html, phone 660-882-2232.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Cooper County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the eight cities in Cooper County: Boonville, Pilot Grove, Otterville and Prairie Home. Windsor Place, Bunceton, Blackwater and Wooldridge 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 Cooper County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Cooper County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Boonville (7,863)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cooper County each year?
Boonville reported 130 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 142 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cooper County?
Ask the Cooper County Sheriff's Office at 660-882-2771; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at coopermosheriff.com/detentionunit.html.
Where are people arrested in Cooper County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cooper County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cooper 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 Cooper County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cooper 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.
Is this the official Cooper 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.