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.
Otoe County, Nebraska, has about 17,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Otoe 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 Otoe 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: Otoe County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Otoe County
The Otoe County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Otoe County. It reported 146 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Otoe County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Nebraska City, 7,526 residents: 184 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 Otoe County: the State Patrol in Otoe County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Otoe 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.
- Nebraska City: 184 for 2025, 183 for 2024, 139 for 2023, 297 for 2022, 413 for 2021 and 276 for 2020.
- Otoe County Sheriff's Office: 146 for 2025, 93 for 2024, 121 for 2023, 127 for 2022, 173 for 2021 and 42 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 330 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 330 in 2025 against 276 in 2024, up 20 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 190 arrests, against 178 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Otoe County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Otoe 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 23 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 21 beds, and it ran at 110 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 Otoe County Sheriff's Office at otoecountyne.gov/sheriff/divisions/corrections/inmate_roster.php (page title: Otoe County | Nebraska), 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 Otoe County
An arrest in Otoe County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Otoe County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Otoe 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 otoecountyne.gov/courts/attorney/index.php, phone 402-873-9044).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/otoe-county-court (page title: Otoe County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 402-873-9574, belongs to a lower court, not to the Otoe 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 Otoe 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 Otoe County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Nebraska City: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Otoe County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 402-873-9044, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Otoe 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/otoe-county-court, phone 402-873-9574, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at otoecountyne.gov (page title: Otoe County | Nebraska).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Otoe County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the ten cities in Otoe County: Nebraska City. Syracuse, Palmyra, Unadilla, Talmage, Douglas, Dunbar, Otoe, Burr and Lorton 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 Otoe County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Otoe County each year?
Nebraska City reported 184 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 330 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Otoe County?
Look on the custody page of the Otoe County Sheriff's Office at otoecountyne.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Otoe County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Otoe County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Otoe 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 Otoe County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Otoe 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 otoecountyne.gov.
Is this the official Otoe 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.