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.
Holt County, Nebraska, has about 10,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Holt 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 Holt 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: Holt County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Holt County
The Holt County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Holt County. It reported 8 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Holt County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- O'Neill, 3,578 residents: 89 arrests reported for 2025.
- Atkinson, 1,315 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ewing, 379 residents.
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 Holt County: the State Patrol in Holt County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Holt 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.
- O'Neill: 89 for 2025, 68 for 2024, 66 for 2022, 54 for 2021, 69 for 2020 and 92 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Holt County Sheriff's Office: 8 for 2025 and 10 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Atkinson: 3 for 2025.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 100 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 89 in 2025 against 68 in 2024, up 31 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 37 arrests, against 64 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Holt County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Holt 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 10 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 22 beds, and it ran at 45 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 Holt County Sheriff's Office at holtcounty.nebraska.gov/about/county-sheriff (page title: County Sheriff | Holt County), phone (402) 336-2850, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Holt County
An arrest in Holt County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Holt 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 holtcounty.nebraska.gov/about/county-attorney, phone (402) 336-9911).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/holt-county-court (page title: Holt County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 402-336-1662, belongs to a lower court, not to the Holt 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 Holt 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 Holt County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (402) 336-2850.
- An arrest in O'Neill, Atkinson or Ewing: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Holt County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (402) 336-9911, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Holt 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/holt-county-court, phone 402-336-1662, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Holt County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI and property records.
Cities in Holt County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the eight cities in Holt County: O'Neill, Atkinson and Ewing. Stuart, Chambers, Page, Inman and Emmet 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 Holt County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Holt County each year?
O'Neill reported 89 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 100 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Holt County?
Ask the Holt County Sheriff's Office at (402) 336-2850; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at holtcounty.nebraska.gov/about/county-sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Holt County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Holt County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Holt 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 Holt County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Holt 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 Holt 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.