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 September 30, 2026.
Sidney, Nebraska, in Cheyenne County, has about 6,500 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 Cheyenne 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: Sidney public records, Cheyenne County arrest records, Nebraska arrest records and Nebraska inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Sidney
The FBI lists Sidney with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Sidney Police Department. It reported 135 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 Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 31 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Cheyenne County: the State Patrol in Cheyenne County (state police).
How Many Arrests Sidney 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.
- Sidney: 135 for 2025, 119 for 2024, 167 for 2023, 215 for 2022, 226 for 2021 and 223 for 2020.
Sidney's 135 arrests in 2025 were up 13 percent from 119 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Sidney reported 78 arrests, against 99 in the same months of 2025.
Across Cheyenne County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 166 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Sidney Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Sidney 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 11 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 24 beds, and it ran at 46 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 Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office at cheyennecountysheriff.com/inmate-roster (page title: Inmate Roster | Cheyenne County Jail Roster by CCSO), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 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 Sidney
An arrest in Sidney can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Cheyenne County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at cheyennecounty.nebraska.gov/district-court, phone 308-254-2814); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at cheyennecounty.nebraska.gov/county-attorney, phone 308-254-6060).
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 Sidney
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 Sidney police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cityofsidney.org/301/Records (page title: Records | Sidney, NE), phone (308) 254-5515, Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 308-254-6060, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Cheyenne County District Court, through the court records page at cheyennecounty.nebraska.gov/district-court, phone 308-254-2814.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Cheyenne County guide covers every agency in the county: Cheyenne County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Sidney each year?
Sidney reported 135 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Sidney?
Look on the custody page of the Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office at cheyennecountysheriff.com/inmate-roster. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Sidney booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Sidney?
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 Sidney?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Sidney police for its own arrests, the Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Nebraska Public Records Statutes the answer is due within 4 business days.
Is this the official Sidney 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.