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.
Cherry County, Nebraska, has about 5,600 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cherry 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 Cherry 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: Cherry County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Cherry County
The Cherry County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cherry County. It reported 25 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Cherry County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Valentine, 2,642 residents: 90 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Cherry County: the State Patrol in Cherry County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Cherry 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.
- Valentine: 90 for 2024, 77 for 2023, 115 for 2021, 82 for 2020 and 107 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Cherry County Sheriff's Office: 25 for 2025, 26 for 2024, 40 for 2022, 27 for 2021 and 29 for 2019; 2020 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 116 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 90 in 2024 against 77 in 2023, up 17 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cherry County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Cherry 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 2018 the jail held about 9 people. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Cherry County Sheriff's Office at cherrycountyne.gov/sheriff-office (page title: Sheriff Office | Cherry County), phone (402) 376-1890, 365 N Main Street #9 Valentine, NE 69201, Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., 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 Cherry County
An arrest in Cherry County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Cherry 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 cherrycountyne.gov/attorney-county, phone (402) 376-1803).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/cherry-county-court (page title: Cherry County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 402-376-2590, belongs to a lower court, not to the Cherry 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 Cherry 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 Cherry County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (402) 376-1890.
- An arrest in Valentine: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Cherry County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (402) 376-1803, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Cherry 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 402-376-2590, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Cherry County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the seven cities in Cherry County: Valentine. Cody, Merriman, Crookston, Kilgore, Wood Lake and Nenzel 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 Cherry County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cherry County each year?
Valentine reported 90 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the two agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 116 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cherry County?
Ask the Cherry County Sheriff's Office at (402) 376-1890; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at cherrycountyne.gov/sheriff-office.
Where are people arrested in Cherry County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cherry County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cherry 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 Cherry County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cherry 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 Cherry 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.