SearchSystems Editorial

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.

About this guide

St. Charles County, Missouri, has about 424,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the St. Charles County Sheriff's Office, one other county agency, seven city agencies and two campus, state or other 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 St. Charles 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: St. Charles County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in St. Charles County

The St. Charles County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for St. Charles County. It reported 1,032 arrests for 2025.

The St. Charles County Police Department also reports arrests to the FBI as another county agency of St. Charles County.

The FBI lists seven cities in St. Charles County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:

  • O'Fallon, 95,355 residents: 1,652 arrests reported for 2025.
  • St. Charles, 72,458 residents: 2,309 arrests reported for 2025.
  • St. Peters, 61,398 residents: 1,018 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Wentzville, 48,646 residents: 1,119 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Lake St. Louis, 19,160 residents: 116 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Cottleville, 6,378 residents: 77 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Foristell, 751 residents: 100 arrests reported for 2024.

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 FBI's agency list also places these agencies in St. Charles County: St. Charles Regional Drug Task Force (other); St. Charles Community College (campus police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in St. Charles 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.

  • St. Charles: 2,309 for 2025, 2,670 for 2024, 2,210 for 2023, 3,447 for 2022, 3,407 for 2021 and 2,776 for 2020.
  • O'Fallon: 1,652 for 2025, 1,445 for 2024, 1,695 for 2023, 1,713 for 2022, 2,013 for 2021 and 2,012 for 2020.
  • Wentzville: 1,119 for 2025, 1,033 for 2024, 1,232 for 2023, 1,350 for 2022, 1,487 for 2021 and 958 for 2020.
  • St. Charles County Sheriff's Office: 1,032 for 2025, 1,021 for 2024, 1,303 for 2023, 1,323 for 2022, 1,436 for 2021 and 1,873 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
  • St. Peters: 1,018 for 2025, 964 for 2024, 1,103 for 2023, 1,248 for 2022, 1,647 for 2021 and 1,192 for 2020.
  • St. Charles County Police Department: 379 for 2025, 654 for 2024, 389 for 2023, 212 for 2022, 891 for 2020 and 1,311 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Lake St. Louis: 116 for 2025, 154 for 2024, 198 for 2023, 221 for 2022, 240 for 2021 and 276 for 2020.
  • Foristell: 100 for 2024, 92 for 2023, 118 for 2022, 122 for 2021, 248 for 2020 and 416 for 2019.
  • Cottleville: 77 for 2024, 43 for 2023, 91 for 2020 and 161 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.

Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 7,625 arrests that year. The six of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 7,246 in 2025 against 7,287 in 2024, down 0.6 percent.

Cottleville and Foristell reported only part of 2025 (7 months and 8 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in St. Charles County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in St. Charles 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 450 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 528 beds, and it ran at 84 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 St. Charles County

An arrest in St. Charles County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the St. Charles County Circuit Court, kept by the Circuit Clerk, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at stcharlescitymo.gov/839/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone (636) 940-4636).

The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at stcharlescitymo.gov/176/Municipal-Courts (page title: Municipal Court | St. Charles, MO), phone (636) 949-3378, belongs to a lower court, not to the St. Charles County Circuit Court.

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 St. Charles 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 St. Charles County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in O'Fallon, St. Charles, St. Peters, Wentzville, Lake St. Louis, Cottleville or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
  • An arrest by St. Charles Regional Drug Task Force or St. Charles Community College: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (636) 940-4636, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: in the St. Charles County Circuit Court it is kept by the Circuit Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at stcharlescitymo.gov/176/Municipal-Courts, phone (636) 949-3378, is a lower court's.
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in St. Charles County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for seven of the 17 cities in St. Charles County: O'Fallon, St. Charles, St. Peters, Wentzville, Lake St. Louis, Cottleville and Foristell. Dardenne Prairie, Weldon Spring, St. Paul, Flint Hill, New Melle, Josephville, West Alton, Portage Des Sioux, Augusta and Weldon Spring Heights 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 St. Charles County Circuit Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in St. Charles County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in St. Charles County each year?

St. Charles reported 2,309 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 7,625 between them.

Where are people arrested in St. Charles County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the St. Charles County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in St. Charles 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 St. Charles County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the St. Charles 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 St. Charles 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.