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 30, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Stoddard County, Missouri, has about 28,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Stoddard 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 Stoddard 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: Stoddard County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Stoddard County
The Stoddard County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Stoddard County. It reported 206 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists six cities in Stoddard County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Dexter, 7,890 residents: 260 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bernie, 1,835 residents: 18 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bloomfield, 1,742 residents: 5 arrests reported for 2025.
- Advance, 1,335 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2025.
- Puxico, 869 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Essex, 395 residents: 1,177 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 Stoddard 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.
- Essex: 1,177 for 2025, 1,175 for 2024, 1,176 for 2023, 1,170 for 2022, 1,145 for 2021 and 1,167 for 2020.
- Dexter: 260 for 2025, 345 for 2024, 461 for 2023, 507 for 2022, 466 for 2021 and 543 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Stoddard County Sheriff's Office: 206 for 2025, 148 for 2024, 100 for 2023, 109 for 2022, 116 for 2021 and 127 for 2020.
- Bernie: 18 for 2025, 17 for 2024, 24 for 2023, 19 for 2022, 35 for 2021 and 18 for 2020.
- Bloomfield: 5 for 2025, 9 for 2024, 8 for 2023, 7 for 2022, 6 for 2021 and 8 for 2020.
- Advance: 2 for 2025, 12 for 2024, 12 for 2023, 3 for 2022, 0 for 2021 and 36 for 2020.
- Puxico: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2022 and 2 for 2021; 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,668 arrests that year. The six of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,668 in 2025 against 1,706 in 2024, down 2.2 percent.
Through July 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 958 arrests, against 973 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Stoddard County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Stoddard 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 74 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 42 beds, and it ran at 176 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 Stoddard County Sheriff's Office at mosheriffs.com/venue/stoddard-county-sheriffs-office (page title: Stoddard County Sheriff’s Office | Missouri Sheriffs' Association), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Stoddard County
For Stoddard 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 Stoddard 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 Stoddard County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Dexter, Bernie, Bloomfield, Advance, Puxico or Essex: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Stoddard County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the nine cities in Stoddard County: Dexter, Bernie, Bloomfield, Advance, Puxico and Essex. Bell City, Dudley and Penermon 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 Stoddard County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Stoddard County each year?
Essex reported 1,177 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,668 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Stoddard County?
Ask the Stoddard County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at mosheriffs.com.
Where are people arrested in Stoddard County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Stoddard County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Stoddard 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 Stoddard County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Stoddard 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 Stoddard 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.