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 27, 2026.
Lincoln County, Missouri, has about 66,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and six 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 Lincoln 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: Lincoln County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lincoln County
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lincoln County. It reported 336 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside six 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:
- Troy, 14,963 residents: 339 arrests reported for 2025.
- Moscow Mills, 4,144 residents: 67 arrests reported for 2025.
- Elsberry, 2,084 residents: 10 arrests reported for 2025.
- Winfield, 1,637 residents: 45 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hawk Point, 761 residents: 7 arrests reported for 2025.
- Old Monroe, 279 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2020.
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 Lincoln 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.
- Troy: 339 for 2025, 437 for 2024, 502 for 2023, 706 for 2022 and 409 for 2021.
- Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: 336 for 2025, 357 for 2024, 313 for 2023 and 452 for 2022.
- Moscow Mills: 67 for 2025, 73 for 2024, 85 for 2023, 34 for 2022, 65 for 2021 and 59 for 2020.
- Winfield: 45 for 2025, 51 for 2024, 38 for 2023, 56 for 2022 and 89 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Elsberry: 10 for 2025 and 15 for 2024.
- Hawk Point: 7 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 0 for 2020 and 1 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Old Monroe: 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 804 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 804 in 2025 against 938 in 2024, down 14 percent.
Through May 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 333 arrests, against 304 in the same months of 2025.
Old Monroe reported only part of 2025 (6 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lincoln County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lincoln 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 2023 the jail held about 160 people, down from about 240 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 215 beds, and it ran at 76 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx (page title: Lincoln County Sheriffs Office P2C), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 27, 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 Lincoln County
An arrest in Lincoln County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Lincoln County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at lincolncomo.gov/circuit-clerk, phone 636-528-9168); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at lincolncomo.gov/prosecutor, phone 636-528-8571).
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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Troy, Moscow Mills, Elsberry, Winfield, Hawk Point or Old Monroe: 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, 636-528-8571, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Lincoln County Circuit Court, through the court records page at lincolncomo.gov/circuit-clerk, phone 636-528-9168.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Lincoln County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the 12 cities in Lincoln County: Troy, Moscow Mills, Elsberry, Winfield, Hawk Point and Old Monroe. Silex, Fountain N' Lakes, Chain of Rocks, Foley, Truxton and Whiteside 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 Lincoln County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lincoln County each year?
Troy reported 339 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 804 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lincoln County?
Ask the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx.
Where are people arrested in Lincoln County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lincoln 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 Lincoln County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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.