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.
St. Francois County, Missouri, has about 68,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the St. Francois County Sheriff's Office, eight city agencies and one campus 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 St. Francois 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. Francois County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in St. Francois County
The St. Francois County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for St. Francois County. It reported 257 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists eight cities in St. Francois County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Farmington, 19,165 residents: 511 arrests reported for 2025.
- Park Hills, 8,705 residents: 265 arrests reported for 2024.
- Bonne Terre, 6,487 residents: 43 arrests reported for 2024.
- Desloge, 4,836 residents: 196 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bismarck, 1,222 residents: 12 arrests reported for 2025.
- Leadwood, 1,155 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Leadington, 763 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
- Iron Mountain Lake, 640 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.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in St. Francois County: Mineral Area College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in St. Francois 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.
- Farmington: 511 for 2025, 481 for 2024, 582 for 2023, 505 for 2022, 357 for 2021 and 770 for 2020.
- Desloge: 196 for 2025, 184 for 2024, 218 for 2022, 258 for 2021, 320 for 2020 and 476 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Bismarck: 12 for 2025, 25 for 2024, 23 for 2023, 49 for 2022 and 26 for 2021.
- Leadington: 3 for 2025, 2 for 2024 and 126 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Leadwood: 0 for 2025.
- Park Hills: 265 for 2024, 265 for 2023, 299 for 2022, 267 for 2021, 270 for 2020 and 474 for 2019.
- St. Francois County Sheriff's Office: 257 for 2024, 291 for 2023, 290 for 2022, 281 for 2021 and 877 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Bonne Terre: 43 for 2024, 72 for 2023, 58 for 2022, 77 for 2021, 130 for 2020 and 289 for 2019.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 722 arrests that year. The four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 722 in 2025 against 692 in 2024, up 4.3 percent.
Through May 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 311 arrests, against 260 in the same months of 2025.
Park Hills, St. Francois County Sheriff's Office and Bonne Terre reported only part of 2025 (11 months, 10 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in St. Francois County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in St. Francois 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 160 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 185 beds, and it ran at 89 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. Francois County Sheriff's Office at sfcgov.org/sheriff/mobile-patrol-app (page title: Mobile Patrol App | Saint Francois County), phone (573)756-1955, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Missouri Department of Corrections lists its inmates at web.mo.gov/doc/offSearchWeb.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in St. Francois County
An arrest in St. Francois County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the St. Francois County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sfcgov.org/circuit-clerk/court-information, phone (573)756-1955); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at sfcgov.org/prosecuting-attorney, phone (573)756-1955).
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. Francois 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. Francois County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (573)756-1955.
- An arrest in Farmington, Park Hills, Bonne Terre, Desloge, Bismarck, Leadwood or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Mineral Area College: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (573)756-1955, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the St. Francois County Circuit Court, through the court records page at sfcgov.org/circuit-clerk/court-information, phone (573)756-1955.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in St. Francois County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the eight cities in St. Francois County: Farmington, Park Hills, Bonne Terre, Desloge, Bismarck, Leadwood, Leadington and Iron Mountain Lake.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the St. Francois County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in St. Francois County each year?
Farmington reported 511 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 722 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in St. Francois County?
Ask the St. Francois County Sheriff's Office at (573)756-1955; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sfcgov.org/sheriff/mobile-patrol-app.
Where are people arrested in St. Francois County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the St. Francois County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in St. Francois 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. Francois County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the St. Francois 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. Francois 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.