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.
Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, has about 36,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office, six 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 Scotts Bluff 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: Scotts Bluff County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Scotts Bluff County
The Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Scotts Bluff County. It reported 114 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside six of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Scottsbluff, 14,323 residents: 512 arrests reported for 2025.
- Gering, 8,554 residents: 162 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mitchell, 1,521 residents: 37 arrests reported for 2025.
- Morrill, 922 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2025.
- Minatare, 703 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lyman, 251 residents: 5 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 Scotts Bluff County: the State Patrol in Scotts Bluff County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Scotts Bluff 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.
- Scottsbluff: 512 for 2025, 361 for 2024, 477 for 2023, 506 for 2021, 436 for 2020 and 470 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Gering: 162 for 2025, 144 for 2021, 133 for 2020 and 146 for 2019; 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office: 114 for 2025, 112 for 2024, 126 for 2022, 133 for 2021 and 175 for 2019; 2020 and 2023 are missing months.
- Mitchell: 37 for 2025, 13 for 2021 and 18 for 2020; 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Lyman: 5 for 2025 and 1 for 2023; 2024 is missing months.
- Minatare: 3 for 2025, 28 for 2023 and 18 for 2022; 2024 is missing months.
- Morrill: 2 for 2025, 1 for 2023, 1 for 2021 and 2 for 2020; 2022 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 835 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 114 in 2025 against 112 in 2024, up 1.8 percent.
Through May 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 310 arrests, against 256 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Scotts Bluff County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Scotts Bluff 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 200 people, down from about 240 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 281 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 Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office at scottsbluffcountyne.gov/detention-center (page title: Detention Center | Scotts Bluff County), phone 308 436-7300, money Monday-Friday between the hours of 8AM-5PM, 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 Scotts Bluff County
An arrest in Scotts Bluff County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Scotts Bluff 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 scottsbluffcountyne.gov/county-attorney, phone 308 436-6674).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/scotts-bluff-county-court (page title: Scotts Bluff County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 308-436-6648, belongs to a lower court, not to the Scotts Bluff 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 Scotts Bluff 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 Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 308 436-7300.
- An arrest in Scottsbluff, Gering, Mitchell, Morrill, Minatare or Lyman: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Scotts Bluff County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 308 436-6674, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Scotts Bluff 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 308-436-6648, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at scottsbluffcountyne.gov (page title: Freedom of Information Request | Scotts Bluff County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Scotts Bluff County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the ten cities in Scotts Bluff County: Scottsbluff, Gering, Mitchell, Morrill, Minatare and Lyman. Terrytown, Henry, Melbeta and McGrew 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 Scotts Bluff County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Scotts Bluff County each year?
Scottsbluff reported 512 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 835 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Scotts Bluff County?
Ask the Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office at 308 436-7300; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at scottsbluffcountyne.gov/detention-center.
Where are people arrested in Scotts Bluff County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Scotts Bluff 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 Scotts Bluff County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Scotts Bluff 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 scottsbluffcountyne.gov.
Is this the official Scotts Bluff 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.