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.
Keith County, Nebraska, has about 8,100 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Keith 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 Keith 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: Keith County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Keith County
The Keith County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Keith County. It reported 47 arrests for 2025.
One city in Keith County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Ogallala, 4,751 residents: 188 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 Keith County: the State Patrol in Keith County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Keith 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.
- Ogallala: 188 for 2025, 153 for 2024, 124 for 2023, 174 for 2022, 182 for 2021 and 186 for 2020.
- Keith County Sheriff's Office: 47 for 2025, 45 for 2024, 40 for 2023, 62 for 2022, 90 for 2021 and 50 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 235 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 235 in 2025 against 198 in 2024, up 19 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 89 arrests, against 175 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Keith County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Keith 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 8 people, down from about 15 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 10 beds, and it ran at 79 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Keith County
An arrest in Keith County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Keith County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at keithcountyne.gov/residents/court_dates.php, phone (308) 284-4726); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at keithcountyne.gov/residents/prosecution.php, phone (308) 284-4726).
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 Keith 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 Keith County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Ogallala: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Keith County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (308) 284-4726, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Keith County District Court, through the court records page at keithcountyne.gov/residents/court_dates.php, phone (308) 284-4726.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Keith County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Keith County: Ogallala. Paxton and Brule 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 Keith County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Keith County each year?
Ogallala reported 188 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 235 between them.
Where are people arrested in Keith County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Keith County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Keith 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 Keith County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Keith 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 Keith 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.