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.
Pettis County, Missouri, has about 44,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Pettis County Sheriff's Office and one city agency. 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 Pettis 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: Pettis County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Pettis County
The Pettis County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Pettis County. It reported 357 arrests for 2025.
One city in Pettis County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Sedalia, 22,310 residents: 1,112 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 Pettis 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.
- Sedalia: 1,112 for 2025, 658 for 2024, 820 for 2023, 1,243 for 2022, 1,366 for 2021 and 2,093 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Pettis County Sheriff's Office: 357 for 2025 and 339 for 2023; 2024 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,469 arrests that year.
Through March 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 334 arrests, against 337 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Pettis County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Pettis 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 2019 the jail held about 190 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 210 beds, and it ran at 90 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 Pettis County Sheriff's Office at pettiscomo.gov/sheriffs-office (page title: Sheriff’s Office | Pettis County Missouri), phone 660 827 0052, 319 S. Lamine Ave Sedalia, MO 65301, 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 Pettis County
An arrest in Pettis County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: 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 pettiscomo.gov/prosecutor, phone 660-826-5000).
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 Pettis 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 Pettis County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 660 827 0052.
- An arrest in Sedalia: 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, 660-826-5000, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Pettis County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the six cities in Pettis County: Sedalia. La Monte, Green Ridge, Smithton, Houstonia and Hughesville 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 Pettis County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Pettis County each year?
Sedalia reported 1,112 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,469 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Pettis County?
Ask the Pettis County Sheriff's Office at 660 827 0052; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at pettiscomo.gov/sheriffs-office.
Where are people arrested in Pettis County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Pettis County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Pettis 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 Pettis County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Pettis 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 Pettis 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.