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.
Douglas County, Nebraska, has about 601,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, six city agencies and four campus, state or other agencies. 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 Douglas 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: Douglas County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Douglas County
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Douglas County. It reported 2,633 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists six cities in Douglas County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Omaha, 489,265 residents: 15,491 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ralston, 6,443 residents: 203 arrests reported for 2025.
- Valley, 3,336 residents: 23 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bennington, 1,982 residents: 14 arrests reported for 2025.
- Waterloo, 923 residents: 12 arrests reported for 2025.
- Boys Town, 649 residents: 63 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 these agencies in Douglas County: the State Patrol in Douglas County (state police); the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Metropolitan Community College in Douglas County (campus police); the Union Pacific Railroad Police Department (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Douglas 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.
- Omaha: 15,491 for 2025, 14,972 for 2024, 20,400 for 2020 and 23,729 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Douglas County Sheriff's Office: 2,633 for 2025, 2,320 for 2024, 2,310 for 2023, 2,174 for 2022, 1,938 for 2021 and 1,653 for 2020.
- Ralston: 203 for 2025, 227 for 2024, 245 for 2023, 253 for 2022, 172 for 2021 and 140 for 2020.
- Boys Town: 63 for 2025, 103 for 2024, 106 for 2023, 104 for 2022, 83 for 2021 and 205 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Valley: 23 for 2025, 26 for 2024, 18 for 2023 and 44 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Bennington: 14 for 2025, 23 for 2024, 10 for 2023 and 8 for 2021; 2022 is missing months.
- Waterloo: 12 for 2025, 13 for 2024, 9 for 2023 and 4 for 2022.
Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 18,439 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 18,439 in 2025 against 17,684 in 2024, up 4.3 percent.
Through August 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 11,909 arrests, against 12,381 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Douglas County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Douglas 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 2024 the jail held about 1,150 people, down from about 1,360 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,435 beds, and it ran at 76 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 Douglas County Sheriff's Office at dgso.org/index.php/dgso-inmate-reports (page title: DGSO Inmate Reports), 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 Douglas County
Whether someone was arrested in Douglas County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Douglas County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at nebraskajudicial.gov/e-services/case-information-eservices); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at douglascounty-ne.gov/attorney).
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 Douglas 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 Douglas County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Omaha, Ralston, Valley, Bennington, Waterloo or Boys Town: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Douglas County, the University of Nebraska at Omaha or the Union Pacific Railroad Police Department: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Douglas County District Court, through the court records page at nebraskajudicial.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at registerofdeeds.douglascounty-ne.gov (page title: Records Requests & Copies Archives | Register Of Deeds).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Douglas County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Douglas County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the six cities in Douglas County: Omaha, Ralston, Valley, Bennington, Waterloo and Boys Town.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Douglas County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Douglas County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Omaha (489,265)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Douglas County each year?
Omaha reported 15,491 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 18,439 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Douglas County?
Ask the Douglas County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dgso.org/index.php/dgso-inmate-reports.
Where are people arrested in Douglas County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Douglas 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 Douglas County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Douglas 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 registerofdeeds.douglascounty-ne.gov.
Is this the official Douglas 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.