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.
Howell County, Missouri, has about 41,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Howell County Sheriff's Office and three 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 Howell 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: Howell County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Howell County
The Howell County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Howell County. It reported 242 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Howell County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- West Plains, 12,704 residents: 327 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mountain View, 2,668 residents: 63 arrests reported for 2025.
- Willow Springs, 2,219 residents: 23 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 Howell 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.
- West Plains: 327 for 2025, 469 for 2024, 420 for 2023, 243 for 2021, 463 for 2020 and 841 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Howell County Sheriff's Office: 242 for 2025, 211 for 2024, 212 for 2023, 137 for 2022, 168 for 2021 and 672 for 2020.
- Mountain View: 63 for 2025, 77 for 2024, 168 for 2022, 269 for 2020 and 252 for 2019; 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Willow Springs: 23 for 2025, 21 for 2024, 31 for 2023, 27 for 2022, 29 for 2021 and 48 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 655 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 655 in 2025 against 778 in 2024, down 16 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 370 arrests, against 391 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Howell County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Howell 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 2019 the jail held about 3 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 12 beds, and it ran at 25 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Howell County
For Howell County the place to look is Case.net, the Missouri courts' free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed.
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 Howell 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 Howell County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in West Plains, Mountain View or Willow Springs: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Howell County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the four cities in Howell County: West Plains, Mountain View and Willow Springs. Brandsville has 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 Howell County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Howell County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- West Plains (12,704)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Howell County each year?
West Plains reported 327 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 655 between them.
Where are people arrested in Howell County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Howell County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Howell 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 Howell County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Howell 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 Howell 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.