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 October 9, 2026.
Platte County, Nebraska, has about 35,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Platte 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 Platte 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: Platte County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Platte County
The Platte County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Platte County. It reported 136 arrests for 2025.
One city in Platte County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Columbus, 25,126 residents: 536 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 Platte County: the State Patrol in Platte County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Platte 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.
- Columbus: 536 for 2025, 608 for 2024, 690 for 2023, 587 for 2022, 479 for 2021 and 482 for 2020.
- Platte County Sheriff's Office: 136 for 2025, 129 for 2024, 177 for 2023, 167 for 2022, 172 for 2021 and 387 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 672 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 672 in 2025 against 737 in 2024, down 8.8 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 291 arrests, against 336 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Platte County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Platte 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 100 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 110 beds, and it ran at 93 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 Platte County Sheriff's Office at plattecounty.ne.gov/sheriff/about (page title: About Us | Platte County Nebraska), phone (402) 564-3229, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 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 Platte County
An arrest in Platte County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Platte 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 plattecounty.ne.gov/attorney, phone 402-563-4903).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at plattecounty.ne.gov/county-court (page title: County Court | Platte County Nebraska), phone 402-563-4905, belongs to a lower court, not to the Platte 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 Platte 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 Platte County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (402) 564-3229.
- An arrest in Columbus: 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 Platte County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 402-563-4903, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Platte County District Court it is kept by the Clerk of the District Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at plattecounty.ne.gov/county-court, phone 402-563-4905, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Platte County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI and property records.
Cities in Platte County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the nine cities in Platte County: Columbus. Humphrey, Duncan, Platte Center, Lindsay, Monroe, Creston, Tarnov and Cornlea 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 Platte County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Platte County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Columbus (25,126)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Platte County each year?
Columbus reported 536 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 672 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Platte County?
Ask the Platte County Sheriff's Office at (402) 564-3229; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at plattecounty.ne.gov/sheriff/about.
Where are people arrested in Platte County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Platte County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Platte 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 Platte County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Platte 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 Platte 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.