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 23, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Washington County, Missouri, has about 24,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Washington County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Washington 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: Washington County public records, Missouri arrest records, Missouri inmate search and Missouri criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Washington County
The Washington County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Washington County. It reported 162 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year.
One city in Washington County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Potosi, 2,549 residents: 312 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Washington 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.
- Potosi: 312 for 2024, 365 for 2023, 391 for 2022, 394 for 2021, 435 for 2020 and 425 for 2019.
- Washington County Sheriff's Office: 162 for 2023, 88 for 2022, 111 for 2021 and 70 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 527 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2023 and 2022 complete reported 527 in 2023 against 479 in 2022, up 10 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Washington County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Washington 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 61 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 28 beds, and it ran at 218 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 Washington County Sheriff's Office at wcso.net/arrests/intake.php (page title: Recent Arrests), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Washington County
Whether someone was arrested in Washington County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: Case.net, the Missouri courts' free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at washingtoncountymo.us/prosecuting-attorney, phone 573-438-6111).
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 Washington 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 Washington County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Potosi: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 573-438-6111, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Washington County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the four cities in Washington County: Potosi. Irondale, Mineral Point and Caledonia 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 Washington County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Washington County each year?
Potosi reported 312 arrests to the FBI for 2024. For 2023, the latest year most of the agencies in Washington County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 527 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Washington County?
Ask the Washington County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at wcso.net/arrests/intake.php.
Where are people arrested in Washington County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Washington County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Washington 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 Washington County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Washington 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 Washington 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.