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 9, 2026.
Clay County, Nebraska, has about 6,100 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clay County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies 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 Clay 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: Clay County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clay County
The Clay County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clay County. It reported 2 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Clay County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Sutton, 1,443 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Harvard, 942 residents: 1 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 Clay County: the State Patrol in Clay County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Clay 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.
- Clay County Sheriff's Office: 2 for 2025 and 45 for 2021; 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Harvard: 1 for 2025 and 9 for 2022; 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Sutton: 0 for 2025.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3 arrests that year.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clay County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Clay 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 2023 the jail held about 7 people, up from about 6 in 2018. Its rated capacity in 2022, the last year with a capacity figure, was 10 beds, and it ran at 50 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 Clay County Sheriff's Office at claycounty.ne.gov/sheriff-office (page title: Sheriff Office | Clay County), phone 402-762-3528, 68933 Location 104 E Edgar St Clay Center, NE 68933, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 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 Clay County
Whether someone was arrested in Clay County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Clay 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 claycounty.ne.gov/attorney-county, phone 402-762-3461).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/clay-county-court (page title: Clay County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 402-762-3651, belongs to a lower court, not to the Clay 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 Clay 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 Clay County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 402-762-3528.
- An arrest in Sutton or Harvard: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Clay County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 402-762-3461, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Clay 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/courts/clay-county-court, phone 402-762-3651, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at claycounty.ne.gov (page title: Freedom of Information Request | Clay County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Clay County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI and property records.
Cities in Clay County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the ten cities in Clay County: Sutton and Harvard. Clay Center, Edgar, Fairfield, Glenvil, Trumbull, Ong, Deweese and Saronville 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 Clay County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clay County each year?
The Clay County Sheriff's Office reported 2 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Clay County?
Ask the Clay County Sheriff's Office at 402-762-3528; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at claycounty.ne.gov/sheriff-office.
Where are people arrested in Clay County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clay County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clay 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 Clay County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clay 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 claycounty.ne.gov.
Is this the official Clay 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.