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.
Lincoln County, Nebraska, has about 33,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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: Lincoln County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lincoln County
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lincoln County. It reported 284 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Lincoln County with a reporting agency of its own:
- North Platte, 22,549 residents: 1,156 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 Lincoln County: the State Patrol in Lincoln County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lincoln 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.
- North Platte: 1,156 for 2025, 1,425 for 2024, 1,517 for 2023, 1,186 for 2022, 1,122 for 2021 and 1,313 for 2020.
- Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: 284 for 2025, 139 for 2024, 218 for 2022, 248 for 2021, 233 for 2020 and 226 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,440 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,440 in 2025 against 1,564 in 2024, down 7.9 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 921 arrests, against 913 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lincoln County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lincoln 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 2023 the jail held about 150 people, up from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 213 beds, and it ran at 71 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx (page title: Lincoln County Sheriffs Office P2C), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 27, 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 Lincoln County
An arrest in Lincoln County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Lincoln 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 lincolncountyne.gov/county-attorney, phone 308-534-4350).
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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in North Platte: 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 Lincoln County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 308-534-4350, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Lincoln 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 lincoln.ne.gov (page title: Public Records Requests | City of Lincoln, NE).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Lincoln County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the seven cities in Lincoln County: North Platte. Sutherland, Hershey, Brady, Wallace, Maxwell and Wellfleet 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 Lincoln County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lincoln County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- North Platte (22,549)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lincoln County each year?
North Platte reported 1,156 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,440 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lincoln County?
Ask the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx.
Where are people arrested in Lincoln County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lincoln 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 Lincoln County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lincoln 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 lincoln.ne.gov.
Is this the official Lincoln 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.