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.
Omaha, Nebraska, in Douglas County, has about 489,000 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 Douglas 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: Omaha public records, Douglas County arrest records, Nebraska arrest records and Nebraska inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Omaha
The FBI lists Omaha with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Omaha Police Department. It reported 15,491 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 Douglas County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,633 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Douglas County: the State Patrol in Douglas County (state police); the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Metropolitan Community College in Douglas County (campus police); the Union Pacific Railroad Police Department (other).
How Many Arrests Omaha Reports
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.
- Omaha: 15,491 for 2025, 14,972 for 2024, 20,400 for 2020 and 23,729 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Omaha's 15,491 arrests in 2025 were up 3.5 percent from 14,972 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Omaha reported 10,547 arrests, against 11,731 in the same months of 2025.
Across Douglas County, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 18,439 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Omaha Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Omaha 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 2024 the jail held about 1,150 people, down from about 1,360 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,435 beds, and it ran at 76 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 Douglas County Sheriff's Office at dgso.org/index.php/dgso-inmate-reports (page title: DGSO Inmate Reports), 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 Omaha
Whether someone was arrested in Omaha, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Douglas County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at nebraskajudicial.gov/e-services/case-information-eservices); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at douglascounty-ne.gov/attorney).
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 Omaha
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 Omaha police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at police.cityofomaha.org/request-a-police-report (page title: Omaha Police Department | Request a Copy of a Police Report), phone 402-444-5600, 505 S. 15th Street, (Attn: Records Manager), Omaha, NE 68102, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Douglas County District Court, through the court records page at nebraskajudicial.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at registerofdeeds.douglascounty-ne.gov (page title: Records Requests & Copies Archives | Register Of Deeds).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Douglas County guide covers every agency in the county: Douglas County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Omaha each year?
Omaha reported 15,491 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Omaha?
Ask the Douglas County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dgso.org/index.php/dgso-inmate-reports.
Where are people arrested in Omaha booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Omaha?
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 Omaha?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Omaha police for its own arrests, the Douglas 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 registerofdeeds.douglascounty-ne.gov.
Is this the official Omaha 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.