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 26, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Lincoln, Nebraska, in Lancaster County, has about 301,000 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 Lancaster 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: Lincoln public records, Lancaster County arrest records, Nebraska arrest records and Nebraska inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Lincoln
The FBI lists Lincoln with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Lincoln Police Department. It reported 12,335 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 Lancaster County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 564 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Lancaster County: the Nebraska State Fire Marshal (state agency); the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (campus police); the State Patrol in Lancaster County (state police).
How Many Arrests Lincoln 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.
- Lincoln: 12,335 for 2025, 12,025 for 2024, 11,347 for 2023, 10,178 for 2022, 9,649 for 2021 and 16,421 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Lincoln's 12,335 arrests in 2025 were up 2.6 percent from 12,025 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Lincoln reported 7,693 arrests, against 8,421 in the same months of 2025.
Across Lancaster County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 12,899 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lincoln Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lincoln 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 710 people, up from about 630 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 786 beds, and it ran at 90 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 Lancaster County Sheriff's Office at lancaster.ne.gov/1380/Sheriffs-Office (page title: Sheriff's Office | Lancaster County, NE), phone (402) 441-6500, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, whose inmate locator is at dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corrections/COR_input.jsp.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Lincoln
An arrest in Lincoln can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Lancaster County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at lancaster.ne.gov/926/Courts, phone 402.441.7328); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at lancaster.ne.gov/179/County-Attorney, phone 402-441-7321).
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 Lincoln
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 Lincoln police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at lincoln.ne.gov/City/Departments/Police/Police-Records/Public-Record... (page title: Public Records Requests | City of Lincoln, NE), phone (402) 441-7210, 575 South 10th Street Lincoln, NE 68508, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (402) 441-6500.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 402-441-7321, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Lancaster County District Court, through the court records page at lancaster.ne.gov/926/Courts, phone 402.441.7328.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lancaster.ne.gov/1000/Records-Requests (page title: Public Records Requests | Lancaster County, NE).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Lancaster County guide covers every agency in the county: Lancaster County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lincoln each year?
Lincoln reported 12,335 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Lincoln booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lincoln?
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 Lincoln?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lincoln police for its own arrests, the Lancaster 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 lancaster.ne.gov/1000/Records-Requests.
Is this the official Lincoln 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.