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.
Lafayette County, Missouri, has about 34,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office and 11 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 Lafayette 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: Lafayette County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lafayette County
The Lafayette County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lafayette County. It reported 53 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside 11 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:
- Odessa, 5,689 residents: 27 arrests reported for 2025.
- Higginsville, 4,789 residents: 71 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lexington, 4,595 residents: 226 arrests reported for 2023.
- Concordia, 2,358 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
- Waverly, 816 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
- Wellington, 760 residents.
- Corder, 427 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Alma, 395 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lake Lafayette, 304 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2023.
- Bates City, 230 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Napoleon, 213 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 Emma Police Department and the Oak Grove Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Lafayette County, so their arrests are not broken out for Lafayette County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lafayette 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.
- Higginsville: 71 for 2025, 77 for 2024, 97 for 2023, 114 for 2022 and 100 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Lafayette County Sheriff's Office: 53 for 2025, 45 for 2024, 54 for 2023, 6 for 2022, 142 for 2020 and 251 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Odessa: 27 for 2025, 60 for 2024, 64 for 2023, 99 for 2022, 113 for 2021 and 163 for 2020.
- Concordia: 3 for 2025, 3 for 2024, 6 for 2023 and 76 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Waverly: 3 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023 and 4 for 2022.
- Corder: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 1 for 2023, 0 for 2021, 0 for 2020 and 2 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Napoleon: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2021 and 0 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Bates City: 0 for 2025, 2 for 2024, 0 for 2023 and 6 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Alma: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Lexington: 226 for 2023 and 246 for 2020; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Lake Lafayette: 1 for 2023, 1 for 2022, 10 for 2020 and 4 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 157 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 157 in 2025 against 187 in 2024, down 16 percent.
Through March 2026, the eight agencies with every month so far on file reported 42 arrests, against 46 in the same months of 2025.
Lexington reported only part of 2025 (9 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lafayette County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lafayette 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 2019 the jail held about 120 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 125 beds, and it ran at 97 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 Lafayette County Sheriff's Office at lcsheriff.com/detention (page title: Detention | Lafayette County Sheriff Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Lafayette County
Whether someone was arrested in Lafayette County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Lafayette County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at lafayettecountymo.gov/services/court.php); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at lafayettecountymo.gov/services/prosecuting_attorney/index.php, phone 660-259-6181).
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 Lafayette 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 Lafayette County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Odessa, Higginsville, Lexington, Concordia, Waverly, Wellington or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 660-259-6181, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Lafayette County Circuit Court, through the court records page at lafayettecountymo.gov/services/court.php.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lafayettecountymo.gov (page title: Missouri Sunshine Law and Public Record Requests).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Lafayette County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 11 of the 14 cities in Lafayette County: Odessa, Higginsville, Lexington, Concordia, Waverly, Wellington, Corder, Alma, Lake Lafayette, Bates City and Napoleon. Mayview, Dover and Aullville 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 Lafayette County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lafayette County each year?
Higginsville reported 71 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 157 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lafayette County?
Ask the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lcsheriff.com/detention.
Where are people arrested in Lafayette County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lafayette 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 Lafayette County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lafayette 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 lafayettecountymo.gov.
Is this the official Lafayette 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.