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.
Madison County, Missouri, has about 13,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Madison County Sheriff's Office and two 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 Madison 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: Madison County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Madison County
The Madison County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Madison County. It reported 5 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Fredericktown, 4,581 residents: 91 arrests reported for 2025.
- Marquand, 190 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Madison 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.
- Fredericktown: 91 for 2025, 103 for 2024, 134 for 2023, 181 for 2022, 100 for 2021 and 168 for 2020.
- Madison County Sheriff's Office: 5 for 2025, 37 for 2023, 19 for 2022, 24 for 2021, 2 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Marquand: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2023 and 0 for 2022; 2024 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 96 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 91 in 2025 against 103 in 2024, down 12 percent.
Through May 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 30 arrests, against 47 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Madison County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Madison 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 19 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 36 beds, and it ran at 53 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 Madison County
For Madison 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 Madison 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 Madison County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Fredericktown or Marquand: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Madison County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the four cities in Madison County: Fredericktown and Marquand. Junction City and Cobalt 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 Madison County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Madison County each year?
Fredericktown reported 91 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 96 between them.
Where are people arrested in Madison County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Madison County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Madison 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 Madison County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Madison 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 Madison 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.