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.
Dawson County, Nebraska, has about 25,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Dawson County Sheriff's Office, three 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 Dawson 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: Dawson County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Dawson County
The Dawson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Dawson County. It reported 175 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Dawson County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Lexington, 11,205 residents: 381 arrests reported for 2025.
- Cozad, 3,945 residents: 71 arrests reported for 2025.
- Gothenburg, 3,447 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 Dawson County: the State Patrol in Dawson County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Dawson County
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.
- Lexington: 381 for 2025, 463 for 2024, 482 for 2023, 488 for 2022, 384 for 2021 and 473 for 2020.
- Dawson County Sheriff's Office: 175 for 2025, 195 for 2024, 135 for 2021 and 155 for 2019; 2020, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Cozad: 71 for 2025, 54 for 2024, 66 for 2023, 68 for 2022, 56 for 2020 and 72 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Gothenburg: 16 for 2025, 24 for 2024, 57 for 2023, 38 for 2022, 30 for 2021 and 59 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 643 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 643 in 2025 against 736 in 2024, down 13 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 267 arrests, against 306 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dawson County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Dawson 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 94 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 117 beds, and it ran at 80 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 Dawson County Sheriff's Office at dawsoncountyne.gov/administrative/sheriff/index.php (page title: Dawson County), phone (308) 324-3011, 709 N. Grant Street Lexington, NE 68850, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Dawson County
Whether someone was arrested in Dawson County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Dawson 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 dawsoncountyne.gov/administrative/county_attorney.php, phone 308-324-5644).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/dawson-county-court (page title: Dawson County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 308-324-5606, belongs to a lower court, not to the Dawson 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 Dawson 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 Dawson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (308) 324-3011.
- An arrest in Lexington, Cozad or Gothenburg: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Dawson County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 308-324-5644, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Dawson 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 308-324-5606, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Dawson County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the seven cities in Dawson County: Lexington, Cozad and Gothenburg. Overton, Sumner, Farnam and Eddyville 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 Dawson County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dawson County each year?
Lexington reported 381 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 643 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Dawson County?
Ask the Dawson County Sheriff's Office at (308) 324-3011; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dawsoncountyne.gov.
Where are people arrested in Dawson County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dawson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dawson 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 Dawson County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dawson 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 Dawson 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.