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 October 2, 2026.
McDonald County, Missouri, has about 24,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the McDonald 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 McDonald 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: McDonald County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in McDonald County
The McDonald County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for McDonald County. It reported 112 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists six cities in McDonald County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Noel, 2,190 residents: 40 arrests reported for 2025.
- Anderson, 2,089 residents: 57 arrests reported for 2025.
- Goodman, 1,305 residents: 24 arrests reported for 2025.
- Southwest City, 976 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pineville, 843 residents: 57 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lanagan, 381 residents.
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 McDonald 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.
- McDonald County Sheriff's Office: 112 for 2025, 124 for 2024, 141 for 2023, 188 for 2022, 133 for 2021 and 125 for 2020.
- Pineville: 57 for 2025, 38 for 2024, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Anderson: 57 for 2025 and 100 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Noel: 40 for 2025, 68 for 2024, 132 for 2023, 133 for 2020 and 92 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Goodman: 24 for 2025, 0 for 2024 and 33 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Southwest City: 0 for 2025 and 9 for 2020; 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 290 arrests that year. The four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 233 in 2025 against 230 in 2024, up 1.3 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in McDonald County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in McDonald 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 38 people, down from about 52 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 64 beds, and it ran at 59 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 McDonald County Sheriff's Office at mcdonaldcountysheriff.com/detention_center.html (page title: Welcome to the McDonald County Sheriff's Office Website), phone 417-895-6868, 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 McDonald County
Whether someone was arrested in McDonald County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: Case.net, the Missouri courts' free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at mcdonaldcountymo.gov/prosecuting-attorney, phone 417-223-4142).
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 McDonald 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 McDonald County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 417-895-6868.
- An arrest in Noel, Anderson, Goodman, Southwest City, Pineville or Lanagan: 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, 417-223-4142, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in McDonald County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the eight cities in McDonald County: Noel, Anderson, Goodman, Southwest City, Pineville and Lanagan. Jane and Ginger Blue 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 McDonald County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in McDonald County each year?
The McDonald County Sheriff's Office reported 112 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 290 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in McDonald County?
Ask the McDonald County Sheriff's Office at 417-895-6868; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at mcdonaldcountysheriff.com.
Where are people arrested in McDonald County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the McDonald County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in McDonald 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 McDonald County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the McDonald 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 McDonald 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.