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 on September 24, 2026.
Adams County, Nebraska, has about 31,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Adams County Sheriff's Office, one city agency 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 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 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: Adams County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Adams County
The Adams County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Adams County. It reported 359 arrests for 2025.
One city in Adams County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Hastings, 25,152 residents: 867 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 Adams County: the State Patrol in Adams County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Adams 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.
- Hastings: 867 for 2025, 879 for 2024, 750 for 2023, 743 for 2022 and 1,193 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Adams County Sheriff's Office: 359 for 2025, 299 for 2023, 301 for 2022 and 365 for 2021; 2024 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,226 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 867 in 2025 against 879 in 2024, down 1.4 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 742 arrests, against 860 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Adams County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Adams County 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.
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 Adams County
An arrest in Adams County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: 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 Adams 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 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 Adams County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Hastings: 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 the State Patrol in Adams County: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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.
Cities in Adams County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the seven cities in Adams County: Hastings. Kenesaw, Juniata, Roseland, Holstein, Ayr and Prosser 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 Adams County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Adams County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Hastings (25,152)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Adams County each year?
Hastings reported 867 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,226 between them.
Where are people arrested in Adams County 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 Adams County?
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 Adams County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Adams County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 Adams 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.