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 between September 24, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Brown County, Nebraska, has about 2,900 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Brown County Sheriff's Office 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 Brown 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: Brown County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Brown County
The Brown County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Brown County. It reported 65 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Brown County: the State Patrol in Brown County (state police).
How Many Arrests The Brown County Sheriff's Office 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.
- Brown County Sheriff's Office: 65 for 2025, 40 for 2024 and 20 for 2021; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
The Brown County Sheriff's Office's 65 arrests in 2025 were up 63 percent from 40 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Brown County Sheriff's Office reported 45 arrests, against 39 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Brown County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Brown 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 2 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 6 beds, and it ran at 37 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 Brown County Sheriff's Office at browncountyne.gov/sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Brown County Government), phone 402-387-1440, 142 West 4th Street Ainsworth, NE 69210, Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
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 Brown County
Whether someone was arrested in Brown County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Brown 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 browncountyne.gov/attorney, phone 402-387-0926).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/brown-county-court (page title: Brown County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 402-387-2864, belongs to a lower court, not to the Brown 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 Brown 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 Brown County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 402-387-1440.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Brown County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 402-387-0926, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Brown County District Court it is kept by the Clerk of the District Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov, phone 402-387-2864, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Brown County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Brown County with an arrest reporting agency of its own; the counts above are the county agencies'.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Brown County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Brown County each year?
The Brown County Sheriff's Office reported 65 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Brown County?
Ask the Brown County Sheriff's Office at 402-387-1440; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at browncountyne.gov/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Brown County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Brown County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Brown 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 Brown County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Brown 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.
Is this the official Brown 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.