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.
Madison County, Nebraska, has about 36,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Madison County Sheriff's Office, four 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 Madison 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: Madison County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Madison County
The Madison County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Madison County. It reported 226 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Madison County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Norfolk, 26,162 residents: 1,009 arrests reported for 2025.
- Madison, 2,169 residents: 9 arrests reported for 2025.
- Battle Creek, 1,178 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Tilden, 982 residents: 0 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 Madison County: the State Patrol in Madison County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Madison 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.
- Norfolk: 1,009 for 2025, 1,069 for 2024, 1,074 for 2022, 1,117 for 2021, 1,341 for 2020 and 1,263 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Madison County Sheriff's Office: 226 for 2025, 250 for 2024, 227 for 2023, 143 for 2022, 144 for 2021 and 99 for 2020.
- Madison: 9 for 2025, 22 for 2023, 33 for 2022 and 19 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
- Battle Creek: 0 for 2025.
- Tilden: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2021 and 2 for 2019; 2020, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,244 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,235 in 2025 against 1,319 in 2024, down 6.4 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 711 arrests, against 637 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Madison County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Madison 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 2019 the jail held about 81 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 111 beds, and it ran at 73 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 Madison County Sheriff's Office at sheriffrandytucker.com/madison-county-detention-center (page title: Madison County Detention Center | Madison County Sheriff's Department), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Madison County
Whether someone was arrested in Madison County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Madison 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 madisoncountyne.gov/county-attorney, phone 402-454-3311).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/madison-county-court (page title: Madison County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 402-454-3311, belongs to a lower court, not to the Madison 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 Madison 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 Madison County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Norfolk, Madison, Battle Creek or Tilden: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Madison County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 402-454-3311, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Madison 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 402-454-3311, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Madison County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the six cities in Madison County: Norfolk, Madison, Battle Creek and Tilden. Newman Grove and Meadow Grove 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 Madison County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Madison County each year?
Norfolk reported 1,009 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,244 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Madison County?
Ask the Madison County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriffrandytucker.com.
Where are people arrested in Madison County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Madison County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Madison 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 Madison County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Madison 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 Madison 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.