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 September 27, 2026.
Lincoln County, Mississippi, has about 35,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one state 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 Lincoln 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: Lincoln County public records, Mississippi arrest records, Mississippi inmate search and Mississippi criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lincoln County
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lincoln County. It reported 88 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year.
One city in Lincoln County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Brookhaven, 11,654 residents: 208 arrests reported for 2023.
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 Wesson Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Lincoln County, so its arrests are not broken out for Lincoln County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Lincoln County: Brookhaven Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lincoln 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.
- Brookhaven: 208 for 2023, 338 for 2022, 598 for 2021, 429 for 2020 and 467 for 2019.
- Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: 88 for 2023, 53 for 2021, 1,255 for 2020 and 1,339 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 296 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2023 and 2022 complete reported 208 in 2023 against 338 in 2022, down 38 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lincoln County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lincoln 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 2023 the jail held about 86 people, down from about 97 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 125 beds, and it ran at 69 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at lincolncountysheriffms.org/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_ti... (page title: Inmate Roster | Lincoln County Sheriff's Office MS | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), phone 601.823.0150, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 27, 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 Lincoln County
Whether someone was arrested in Lincoln County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Lincoln County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.ms.gov/mec/mec.php, phone 601-968-6628); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.pike.ms.us/district-attorney, phone 601-783-6677).
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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 601.823.0150.
- An arrest in Brookhaven: 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 Brookhaven Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 601-783-6677, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Lincoln County Circuit Court, through the court records page at courts.ms.gov/mec/mec.php, phone 601-968-6628.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Criminal Information Center.
Cities in Lincoln County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Brookhaven, the one city in Lincoln County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Lincoln County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lincoln County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Brookhaven (11,654)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lincoln County each year?
Brookhaven reported 208 arrests to the FBI for 2023, and the two agencies with every month of 2023 on file reported 296 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lincoln County?
Look on the custody page of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at lincolncountysheriffms.org, or call 601.823.0150. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Lincoln County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lincoln County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Lincoln 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 Lincoln County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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.