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 24, 2026.
Bolivar County, Mississippi, has about 28,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Bolivar 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the Bolivar 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: Bolivar County public records, Mississippi arrest records, Mississippi inmate search and Mississippi criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Bolivar County
The Bolivar County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Bolivar County. It reported 39 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
Arrests inside six 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:
- Cleveland, 10,183 residents: 191 arrests reported for 2025.
- Shelby, 1,800 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Rosedale, 1,435 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mound Bayou, 1,394 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Shaw, 1,347 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Boyle, 493 residents: 4 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 Bolivar 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.
- Mound Bayou: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Shelby: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Rosedale: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Shaw: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Cleveland: 191 for 2025, 335 for 2024, 303 for 2023, 488 for 2022, 526 for 2021 and 765 for 2020.
- Boyle: 4 for 2025.
- Bolivar County Sheriff's Office: 39 for 2024, 54 for 2023, 32 for 2022 and 10 for 2021.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,803 arrests that year. The five of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,799 in 2025 against 4,943 in 2024, down 2.9 percent.
Through July 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,391 arrests, against 2,689 in the same months of 2025.
Bolivar County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Bolivar County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Bolivar 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 350 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 369 beds, and it ran at 95 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Mississippi Department of Corrections lists its inmates at mdoc.ms.gov/inmate_search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Bolivar County
For Bolivar County the place to look is the case index of the Bolivar County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at bolivar-circuit-clerk.ms).
Mississippi does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Criminal Information Center goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Bolivar 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 Mississippi Public Records Act the agency must answer within 7 working days, or up to 14 where local rules allow, and it may charge the actual cost of search, review and copying.
- An arrest by the Bolivar County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Cleveland, Shelby, Rosedale, Mound Bayou, Shaw or Boyle: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Bolivar County Circuit Court, through the court records page at bolivar-circuit-clerk.ms.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Criminal Information Center.
Cities in Bolivar County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the 15 cities in Bolivar County: Cleveland, Shelby, Rosedale, Mound Bayou, Shaw and Boyle. Renova, Benoit, Merigold, Gunnison, Duncan, Beulah, Pace, Winstonville and Alligator 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 Bolivar County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Bolivar County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Cleveland (10,183)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Bolivar County each year?
Mound Bayou reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,803 between them.
Where are people arrested in Bolivar County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bolivar County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Bolivar County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Bolivar County Circuit Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Criminal Information Center is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Mississippi Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Bolivar County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Bolivar County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Mississippi Public Records Act the answer is due within 7 working days, or up to 14 where local rules allow.
Is this the official Bolivar 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.