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.
Lafayette County, Mississippi, has about 60,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office, one city agency 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 Lafayette 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: Lafayette County public records, Mississippi arrest records, Mississippi inmate search and Mississippi criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lafayette County
The Lafayette County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lafayette County. It reported 188 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
One city in Lafayette County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Oxford, 26,801 residents: 1,255 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.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Lafayette County: the University of Mississippi at Oxford (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lafayette 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.
- Oxford: 1,255 for 2025, 1,421 for 2024, 1,144 for 2023, 1,229 for 2022, 1,192 for 2021 and 1,495 for 2020.
- Lafayette County Sheriff's Office: 188 for 2024, 222 for 2023, 162 for 2022, 142 for 2021 and 160 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,609 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 1,609 in 2024 against 1,366 in 2023, up 18 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lafayette County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lafayette 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 140 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 135 beds, and it ran at 107 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 Lafayette County Sheriff's Office at lcsheriff.com/detention (page title: Detention | Lafayette County Sheriff Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Lafayette County
For Lafayette County the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at lafayettems.com/places/mississippi-office-of-the-district-attorney, phone (662) 234-3304).
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 Lafayette 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 Lafayette County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Oxford: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the University of Mississippi at Oxford: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (662) 234-3304, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lafayettems.com (page title: Request Public Records | Lafayette County).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Criminal Information Center.
Cities in Lafayette County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Lafayette County: Oxford. Taylor and Abbeville 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 Lafayette County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lafayette County each year?
Oxford reported 1,255 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Lafayette County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 1,609 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lafayette County?
Ask the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lcsheriff.com/detention.
Where are people arrested in Lafayette County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lafayette County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Lafayette 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 Lafayette County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lafayette 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 lafayettems.com.
Is this the official Lafayette 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.