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 24, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
DeSoto County, Mississippi, has about 196,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the DeSoto County Sheriff's Office, five 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the DeSoto 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: DeSoto County public records, Mississippi arrest records, Mississippi inmate search and Mississippi criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in DeSoto County
The DeSoto County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for DeSoto County. It reported 4,128 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in DeSoto County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Southaven, 57,493 residents: 2,729 arrests reported for 2025.
- Olive Branch, 47,365 residents: 968 arrests reported for 2025.
- Horn Lake, 26,574 residents: 954 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hernando, 18,542 residents: 1,547 arrests reported for 2025.
- Walls, 1,412 residents: 59 arrests reported for 2021.
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 DeSoto County: Northwest Mississippi Community College at Desoto (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in DeSoto 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.
- DeSoto County Sheriff's Office: 4,128 for 2025, 3,861 for 2024, 3,876 for 2023, 3,201 for 2022, 2,424 for 2021 and 2,051 for 2020.
- Southaven: 2,729 for 2025, 2,596 for 2024, 3,034 for 2023, 2,396 for 2022, 2,130 for 2021 and 1,964 for 2020.
- Hernando: 1,547 for 2025, 1,577 for 2024, 1,330 for 2023, 755 for 2022, 804 for 2021 and 900 for 2020.
- Olive Branch: 968 for 2025, 969 for 2024, 994 for 2023, 1,261 for 2022, 1,313 for 2021 and 1,356 for 2020.
- Horn Lake: 954 for 2025, 859 for 2024, 887 for 2023, 794 for 2022, 481 for 2021 and 446 for 2020.
- Walls: 59 for 2021 and 152 for 2020.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 10,326 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 10,326 in 2025 against 9,862 in 2024, up 4.7 percent.
Through July 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 6,021 arrests, against 5,916 in the same months of 2025.
Walls reported only part of 2025 (4 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in DeSoto County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in DeSoto 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 450 people, up from about 390 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 568 beds, and it ran at 79 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 DeSoto County Sheriff's Office at desotocountyms.gov/342/Sheriff-Thomas-E-Tuggle (page title: Sheriff Thomas E. Tuggle II | DeSoto County, MS), 3091 Industrial Drive W Hernando, MS 38632, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
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 DeSoto County
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 DeSoto 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 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 DeSoto County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Southaven, Olive Branch, Horn Lake, Hernando or Walls: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Northwest Mississippi Community College at Desoto: the records office of the agency involved.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at desotocountyms.gov (page title: Public Records Request Policy | DeSoto County, MS).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Criminal Information Center.
The other DeSoto County guides go further: police reports and property records.
Cities in DeSoto County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the five cities in DeSoto County: Southaven, Olive Branch, Horn Lake, Hernando and Walls.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the DeSoto County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in DeSoto County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Olive Branch (47,365)
- Horn Lake (26,574)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in DeSoto County each year?
The DeSoto County Sheriff's Office reported 4,128 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 10,326 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in DeSoto County?
Ask the DeSoto County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at desotocountyms.gov.
Where are people arrested in DeSoto County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the DeSoto County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in DeSoto County?
The court files of criminal cases in the DeSoto 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 DeSoto County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the DeSoto 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at desotocountyms.gov.
Is this the official DeSoto 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.