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 September 30, 2026.
Hamilton County, Nebraska, has about 9,600 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hamilton 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 Hamilton 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: Hamilton County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hamilton County
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hamilton County. It reported 22 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Hamilton County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Aurora, 4,715 residents: 41 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 Hamilton County: the State Patrol in Hamilton County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Hamilton 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.
- Aurora: 41 for 2025, 41 for 2024, 28 for 2023, 28 for 2022, 42 for 2021 and 62 for 2020.
- Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: 22 for 2025, 10 for 2022, 12 for 2021 and 15 for 2019; 2020, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 63 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 41 in 2025 against 41 in 2024.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 30 arrests, against 39 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hamilton County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hamilton 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 8 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 34 beds, and it ran at 24 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at hcso.org/justice-center-services/inmate-search (page title: Hamilton County Justice Center | Inmate Search | Hamilton County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Hamilton County
Whether someone was arrested in Hamilton County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Hamilton 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 hamiltoncountyne.gov/attorney, phone 402-694-5961).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/hamilton-county-court (page title: Hamilton County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 402-694-6188, belongs to a lower court, not to the Hamilton 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 Hamilton 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 Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Aurora: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Hamilton County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 402-694-5961, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Hamilton 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 402-694-6188, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hcso.org/public-records-requests (page title: Hamilton County Sheriff's Office | Public Records Request).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Hamilton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the seven cities in Hamilton County: Aurora. Hampton, Giltner, Phillips, Marquette, Hordville and Stockham 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 Hamilton County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hamilton County each year?
Aurora reported 41 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 63 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hamilton County?
Look on the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at hcso.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Hamilton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hamilton 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 Hamilton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hamilton 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 hcso.org/public-records-requests.
Is this the official Hamilton 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.