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 28, 2026.
Pawnee County, Nebraska, has about 2,500 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Pawnee County Sheriff's Office 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 Pawnee 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: Pawnee County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Pawnee County
The Pawnee County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Pawnee County. It reported 39 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Pawnee County: the State Patrol in Pawnee County (state police).
How Many Arrests The Pawnee County Sheriff's Office Reports
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.
- Pawnee County Sheriff's Office: 39 for 2025, 32 for 2020 and 7 for 2019; 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Through April 2026, Pawnee County Sheriff's Office reported 7 arrests, against 16 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Pawnee County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Pawnee 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 1 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 3 beds, and it ran at 33 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 Pawnee County Sheriff's Office at pawneecountyne.gov/sheriff-office (page title: Sheriff Office | Pawnee County), phone (402) 852-2969, 68420 Location 625 6th Street Pawnee City, NE 68420, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 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 Pawnee County
Whether someone was arrested in Pawnee County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Pawnee 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 pawneecountyne.gov/attorney-county, phone (402) 852-2577).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/pawnee-county-court (page title: Pawnee County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 402-852-2388, belongs to a lower court, not to the Pawnee 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 Pawnee 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 Pawnee County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (402) 852-2969.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Pawnee County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (402) 852-2577, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Pawnee 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 402-852-2388, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Pawnee County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Pawnee County with an arrest reporting agency of its own; the counts above are the county agencies'.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Pawnee County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Pawnee County each year?
The Pawnee County Sheriff's Office reported 39 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Pawnee County?
Ask the Pawnee County Sheriff's Office at (402) 852-2969; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at pawneecountyne.gov/sheriff-office.
Where are people arrested in Pawnee County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Pawnee County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Pawnee 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 Pawnee County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Pawnee 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 Pawnee 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.