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 28, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
St. Clair County, Missouri, has about 9,800 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office and three 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 St. Clair 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. Clair County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in St. Clair County
The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for St. Clair County. It reported 56 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside three 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:
- Appleton City, 1,080 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Osceola, 979 residents: 7 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lowry City, 652 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 St. Clair 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.
- St. Clair County Sheriff's Office: 56 for 2025, 74 for 2024, 42 for 2023, 35 for 2022, 70 for 2021 and 326 for 2020.
- Osceola: 7 for 2025, 15 for 2024, 21 for 2021 and 67 for 2019; 2020, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Appleton City: 0 for 2025, 1 for 2024 and 44 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 63 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 63 in 2025 against 90 in 2024, down 30 percent.
Through May 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 20 arrests, against 30 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in St. Clair County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in St. Clair 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 140 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 147 beds, and it ran at 93 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 St. Clair County Sheriff's Office at stclaircomo.com/sheriff (page title: Sheriff | St. Clair County MO), phone 417-646-2522, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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. Clair County
For St. Clair 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 St. Clair 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 St. Clair County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 417-646-2522.
- An arrest in Appleton City, Osceola or Lowry City: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at stclaircountyclerk.org (page title: Court Document Request Form | St. Clair County Clerk's Office).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in St. Clair County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the seven cities in St. Clair County: Appleton City, Osceola and Lowry City. Collins, Roscoe, Vista and Gerster 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. Clair County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in St. Clair County each year?
The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office reported 56 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 63 between them.
Where are people arrested in St. Clair County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in St. Clair 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. Clair County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the St. Clair 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at stclaircountyclerk.org.
Is this the official St. Clair 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.