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 on September 23, 2026.

About this guide

Jackson County, Missouri, has about 727,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, 14 city agencies and five 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 Jackson 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: Jackson County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Jackson County

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Jackson County. It reported 825 arrests for 2025.

The FBI lists 14 cities in Jackson County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • Kansas City, 516,032 residents: 10,022 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Independence, 121,629 residents: 4,214 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Lee's Summit, 106,419 residents: 1,409 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Blue Springs, 61,246 residents: 1,493 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Raytown, 29,244 residents: 455 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Grandview, 26,630 residents: 632 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Grain Valley, 16,859 residents: 155 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Oak Grove, 9,129 residents: 227 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Greenwood, 6,235 residents: 67 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Sugar Creek, 3,223 residents: 402 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Buckner, 2,893 residents: 157 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Lake Lotawana, 2,648 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.

The Pleasant Hill Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Jackson County, so its arrests are not broken out for Jackson County here.

The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Jackson County: the Metropolitan Community College and the University of Missouri at Kansas City (campus police); Jackson County Park Rangers, Jackson County Drug Task Force and Blue Spring Public Schools (other).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Jackson 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.

  • Kansas City: 10,022 for 2025, 9,449 for 2024, 9,642 for 2023, 9,734 for 2022, 10,071 for 2021 and 12,100 for 2020.
  • Independence: 4,214 for 2025, 4,035 for 2024, 3,195 for 2021, 3,492 for 2020 and 7,377 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Blue Springs: 1,493 for 2025, 1,318 for 2024, 1,408 for 2023, 1,745 for 2022, 1,791 for 2021 and 1,318 for 2020.
  • Lee's Summit: 1,409 for 2025, 1,488 for 2024, 1,137 for 2023 and 1,772 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Jackson County Sheriff's Office: 825 for 2025, 626 for 2024, 941 for 2023, 1,153 for 2022, 1,190 for 2021 and 895 for 2020.
  • Raytown: 455 for 2025, 259 for 2024, 231 for 2023, 244 for 2022, 569 for 2020 and 914 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Sugar Creek: 402 for 2025, 298 for 2024, 210 for 2023, 143 for 2022, 569 for 2020 and 1,202 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Oak Grove: 227 for 2025, 213 for 2024, 191 for 2023, 225 for 2022, 149 for 2021 and 175 for 2020.
  • Buckner: 157 for 2025, 162 for 2023, 280 for 2022, 283 for 2020 and 390 for 2019; 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
  • Grain Valley: 155 for 2025, 233 for 2024, 270 for 2023, 214 for 2022, 208 for 2021 and 196 for 2020.
  • Greenwood: 67 for 2025, 76 for 2024, 141 for 2021 and 98 for 2020; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Lone Jack: 25 for 2025, 29 for 2024, 41 for 2023, 95 for 2022, 26 for 2021 and 39 for 2020.

Together, the 14 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 19,456 arrests that year. The 13 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 19,299 in 2025 against 18,027 in 2024, up 7.1 percent.

Through July 2026, the 12 agencies with every month so far on file reported 11,191 arrests, against 10,913 in the same months of 2025.

Grandview reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Jackson County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Jackson 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 2024 the jail held about 720 people, down from about 830 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2022, the last year with a capacity figure, was 800 beds, and it ran at 95 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 Jackson County Sheriff's Office at jacksoncountyso.com/inmate-search (page title: Inmate Search | Jackson County Sheriff's Office), phone 877-654-8463, 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 Jackson County

An arrest in Jackson County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Jackson County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at 16thcircuit.org/court-records-resources); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at jacksongov.org/Government/Elected-Officials/Jackson-County-Prosecutor, phone (816) 881-3555).

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 Jackson 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 Jackson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 877-654-8463.
  • An arrest in Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, Raytown, Grandview 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.
  • An arrest by the Metropolitan Community College, the University of Missouri at Kansas City or Jackson County Park Rangers: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (816) 881-3555, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Jackson County Circuit Court, through the court records page at 16thcircuit.org/court-records-resources.
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in Jackson County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 14 of the 18 cities in Jackson County: the twelve named above and Lone Jack and Lake Tapawingo. Sibley, Levasy, Unity Village and River Bend 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 Jackson County Circuit Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Jackson 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 Jackson County each year?

Kansas City reported 10,022 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 14 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 19,456 between them.

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

Look on the custody page of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office at jacksoncountyso.com/inmate-search, or call 877-654-8463. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Jackson County booked?

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

Are arrest records public in Jackson 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 Jackson County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Jackson 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 Jackson 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.