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 2, 2026.
Hancock County, Mississippi, has about 46,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hancock County Sheriff's Office and two 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 Hancock 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: Hancock County public records, Mississippi arrest records, Mississippi inmate search and Mississippi criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hancock County
The Hancock County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hancock County. It reported 734 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Bay St. Louis, 10,526 residents: 301 arrests reported for 2025.
- Waveland, 7,043 residents: 558 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 Hancock 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.
- Hancock County Sheriff's Office: 734 for 2025, 923 for 2024, 962 for 2023, 879 for 2022, 821 for 2021 and 1,633 for 2020.
- Waveland: 558 for 2025 and 648 for 2024.
- Bay St. Louis: 301 for 2025, 350 for 2024, 371 for 2023, 495 for 2022, 422 for 2021 and 422 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,593 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,593 in 2025 against 1,921 in 2024, down 17 percent.
Through March 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 236 arrests, against 406 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hancock County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Hancock 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 2021 the jail held about 170 people, down from about 200 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 225 beds, and it ran at 88 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 Hancock County Sheriff's Office at hancockso.com/InmateRoster/hancock_inmatelist.html (page title: Hancock County Sheriff's Office), phone 228-466-6900, 8450 Highway 90, Bay St. Louis, MS 39520, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 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 Hancock County
Whether someone was arrested in Hancock County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Hancock County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Hancock County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at hancockcounty.ms.gov/214/Circuit-Clerk, phone 228-467-5265); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at hancockcounty.ms.gov/m/directory/department?did=40, phone 228-467-6631).
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 Hancock 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 Hancock County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 228-466-6900.
- An arrest in Bay St. Louis or Waveland: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 228-467-6631, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Hancock County Circuit Court, through the court records page at hancockcounty.ms.gov/214/Circuit-Clerk, phone 228-467-5265.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hancockcounty.ms.gov (page title: HANCOCK COUNTY Public Records Request Form Date of Request _____ _).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Criminal Information Center.
Cities in Hancock County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Hancock County: Bay St. Louis and Waveland. Diamondhead has 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 Hancock County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Hancock County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Diamondhead (9,391)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hancock County each year?
The Hancock County Sheriff's Office reported 734 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,593 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hancock County?
Look on the custody page of the Hancock County Sheriff's Office at hancockso.com, or call 228-466-6900. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Hancock County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hancock County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hancock County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Hancock 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 Hancock County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hancock 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 hancockcounty.ms.gov.
Is this the official Hancock 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.