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.
Taney County, Missouri, has about 57,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Taney County Sheriff's Office and five 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 Taney 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: Taney County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Taney County
The Taney County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Taney County. It reported 606 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
Arrests inside five 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:
- Branson, 12,869 residents: 522 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hollister, 4,659 residents: 47 arrests reported for 2023.
- Forsyth, 2,766 residents: 24 arrests reported for 2025.
- Merriam Woods, 2,042 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Rockaway Beach, 819 residents: 0 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 Taney 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.
- Branson: 522 for 2025, 678 for 2024, 490 for 2023, 480 for 2022, 1,188 for 2020 and 1,439 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Forsyth: 24 for 2025, 27 for 2024, 20 for 2023, 24 for 2022 and 427 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Merriam Woods: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024 and 8 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Rockaway Beach: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024 and 42 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Taney County Sheriff's Office: 606 for 2024, 455 for 2023, 370 for 2022, 253 for 2021 and 331 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Hollister: 47 for 2023, 86 for 2021 and 310 for 2020; 2022 is missing months.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 546 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 546 in 2025 against 705 in 2024, down 23 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 456 arrests, against 279 in the same months of 2025.
Taney County Sheriff's Office and Hollister reported only part of 2025 (10 months and 8 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Taney County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Taney 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 2023 the jail held about 180 people, down from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 268 beds, and it ran at 66 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Taney County Sheriff's Office at taneymosheriff.gov/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_time=desc/1 (page title: Inmate Roster | Taney County Sheriff's Office | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), phone 417.546.7250, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Taney County
An arrest in Taney County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Taney County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Taney County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at taneycounty.org/index.php?section=departments&department=7, phone (417) 546-7230); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at taneycounty.org/index.php?section=departments&department=16).
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 Taney 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 Taney County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 417.546.7250.
- An arrest in Branson, Hollister, Forsyth, Merriam Woods or Rockaway Beach: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Taney County Circuit Court, through the court records page at taneycounty.org, phone (417) 546-7230.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Taney County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the eight cities in Taney County: Branson, Hollister, Forsyth, Merriam Woods and Rockaway Beach. Bull Creek, Taneyville and Kirbyville 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 Taney County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Taney County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Branson (12,869)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Taney County each year?
Branson reported 522 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 546 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Taney County?
Look on the custody page of the Taney County Sheriff's Office at taneymosheriff.gov, or call 417.546.7250. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Taney County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Taney County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Taney 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 Taney County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Taney 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 Taney 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.