Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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.
Hastings, Nebraska, in Adams County, has about 25,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the County Attorney files charges, a case in the Adams County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Hastings public records, Adams County arrest records, Nebraska arrest records and Nebraska inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Hastings
The FBI lists Hastings with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Hastings Police Department. It reported 867 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Adams County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 359 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Adams County: the State Patrol in Adams County (state police).
How Many Arrests Hastings Reports
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.
- Hastings: 867 for 2025, 879 for 2024, 750 for 2023, 743 for 2022 and 1,193 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
Hastings's 867 arrests in 2025 were down 1.4 percent from 879 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Hastings reported 511 arrests, against 612 in the same months of 2025.
Across Adams County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,226 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hastings Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hastings 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 36 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 33 beds, and it ran at 109 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 Adams County Sheriff's Office at adamscountyso.com (page title: Welcome to the Adams County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services lists its inmates at dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corrections/COR_input.jsp.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Hastings
Whether someone was arrested in Hastings, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Adams County District Court, kept by the Clerk of the District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at adamscountyne.gov/county-attorney/12-contact-information, phone 402-461-7240).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at adamscountyne.gov/county-court (page title: County Court), phone 402-461-7143, belongs to a lower court, not to the Adams County District Court.
Statewide, Nebraska Trial Court Case Search is the Nebraska Judicial Branch's statewide case search, with a fee per search.
Nebraska is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Patrol sells name-based criminal history checks to anyone online, through the Nebraska State Patrol. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Hastings
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 Nebraska Public Records Statutes the agency must answer within 4 business days, and it may charge copying, and staff time after the first four hours.
- An arrest by the Hastings police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cityofhastings.org/departments/police/department-divisions/administ... (page title: Records Division | City of Hastings, NE), phone (402) 461-2380, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Adams County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 402-461-7240, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Adams County District Court it is kept by the Clerk of the District Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at adamscountyne.gov/county-court, phone 402-461-7143, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at adamscountyne.gov/public-records-request (page title: Public Records Request).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Adams County guide covers every agency in the county: Adams County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hastings each year?
Hastings reported 867 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hastings?
Ask the Adams County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at adamscountyso.com.
Where are people arrested in Hastings booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Adams County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hastings?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Nebraska State Patrol: the Patrol sells name-based criminal history checks to anyone online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Nebraska Public Records Statutes.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Hastings?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hastings police for its own arrests, the Adams County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Nebraska Public Records Statutes the answer is due within 4 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at adamscountyne.gov/public-records-request.
Is this the official Hastings website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.