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.
Butler County, Nebraska, has about 8,400 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Butler 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 Butler 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: Butler County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Butler County
The Butler County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Butler County. It reported 151 arrests for 2022, its latest complete year.
One city in Butler County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- David City, 3,026 residents: 16 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 Butler County: the State Patrol in Butler County (state police).
How Many Arrests The Butler County Sheriff's Office 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.
- Butler County Sheriff's Office: 151 for 2022, 196 for 2021, 248 for 2020 and 184 for 2019.
- David City: 16 for 2025.
The Butler County Sheriff's Office's 151 arrests in 2022 were down 23 percent from 196 in 2021.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Butler County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Butler County 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 2019 the jail held about 29 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 30 beds, and it ran at 97 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 Butler County Sheriff's Office at butlersheriff.org/jail-facilities (page title: Jail Facilities | Butler County Sheriff’s Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Butler County
Whether someone was arrested in Butler County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Butler 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 butlercountyne.gov/attorney-county, phone 402-367-7470).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/butler-county-court (page title: Butler County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 402-367-7480, belongs to a lower court, not to the Butler 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 Butler County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Butler County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in David City: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Butler County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 402-367-7470, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Butler 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 402-367-7480, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at butlercountyne.gov (page title: Freedom of Information Request | Butler County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Butler County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the 12 cities in Butler County: David City. Bellwood, Rising City, Brainard, Dwight, Ulysses, Octavia, Bruno, Linwood, Abie, Garrison and Surprise 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 Butler County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Butler County each year?
The Butler County Sheriff's Office reported 151 arrests to the FBI for 2022, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Butler County?
Ask the Butler County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at butlersheriff.org/jail-facilities.
Where are people arrested in Butler County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Butler County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Butler 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 Butler County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Butler 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 butlercountyne.gov.
Is this the official Butler 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.