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 30, 2026.
Panola County, Mississippi, has about 33,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Panola County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies 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 Panola 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: Panola County public records, Mississippi arrest records, Mississippi inmate search and Mississippi criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Panola County
The Panola County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Panola County. It reported 296 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists three cities in Panola County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Batesville, 7,356 residents: 568 arrests reported for 2025.
- Como, 1,074 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Crenshaw, 615 residents: 1,152 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 Panola County: Batesville Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Panola 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.
- Como: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Crenshaw: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Batesville: 568 for 2025, 563 for 2024, 443 for 2023, 406 for 2022, 520 for 2021 and 514 for 2020.
- Panola County Sheriff's Office: 296 for 2024.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,872 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,872 in 2025 against 2,867 in 2024, up 0.2 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,445 arrests, against 1,671 in the same months of 2025.
Panola County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Panola County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Panola 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 92 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 300 beds, and it ran at 31 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 Panola County Sheriff's Office at panolacountysheriffms.com/inmateRoster (page title: Panola County Sheriff's Office (MS)), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Panola County
Whether someone was arrested in Panola County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Panola County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Panola 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).
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 Panola 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 Panola County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Batesville, Como or Crenshaw: 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 Batesville Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Panola 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 Panola County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the six cities in Panola County: Batesville, Como and Crenshaw. Sardis, Courtland and Pope 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 Panola County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Panola County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Batesville (7,356)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Panola County each year?
Como reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,872 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Panola County?
Look on the custody page of the Panola County Sheriff's Office at panolacountysheriffms.com/inmateRoster. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Panola County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Panola County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Panola County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Panola 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 Panola County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Panola 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 Panola 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.