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 2, 2026.
Merrimack County, New Hampshire, has about 158,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Merrimack County Sheriff's Office, 26 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 Merrimack County Superior 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: Merrimack County public records, New Hampshire arrest records, New Hampshire inmate search and New Hampshire criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Merrimack County
The Merrimack County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Merrimack County. It reported 184 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Concord, 44,674 residents: 2,012 arrests reported for 2025.
- Franklin, 8,823 residents: 492 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 Merrimack County: the Merrimack County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Merrimack 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.
- Concord: 2,012 for 2025, 2,020 for 2024, 1,978 for 2023, 2,211 for 2022, 2,113 for 2021 and 1,847 for 2020.
- Franklin: 492 for 2025, 450 for 2024, 744 for 2022, 631 for 2021, 544 for 2020 and 572 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Hooksett: 367 for 2025, 416 for 2024, 397 for 2023, 456 for 2022, 489 for 2021 and 404 for 2020.
- Merrimack County Sheriff's Office: 184 for 2025, 186 for 2024, 160 for 2023, 396 for 2022, 544 for 2021 and 376 for 2020.
- Northfield: 159 for 2025, 84 for 2021, 88 for 2020 and 72 for 2019; 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Henniker: 140 for 2025, 166 for 2024, 152 for 2023, 124 for 2022, 118 for 2021 and 149 for 2020.
- Bow: 132 for 2025, 85 for 2024, 178 for 2023, 257 for 2022, 240 for 2021 and 158 for 2020.
- Pembroke: 100 for 2025, 111 for 2024, 64 for 2023, 111 for 2022, 94 for 2021 and 154 for 2020.
- Pittsfield: 88 for 2025, 131 for 2024, 79 for 2023, 84 for 2022, 66 for 2021 and 127 for 2020.
- Allenstown: 81 for 2025, 97 for 2024, 71 for 2023, 98 for 2022, 90 for 2021 and 111 for 2020.
- Epsom: 71 for 2025, 74 for 2024, 104 for 2023, 68 for 2022, 109 for 2021 and 98 for 2020.
- Boscawen: 58 for 2025, 53 for 2024, 121 for 2023, 86 for 2020 and 127 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Together, the 25 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,159 arrests that year. The 24 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,000 in 2025 against 4,070 in 2024, down 1.7 percent.
Through July 2026, the 21 agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,041 arrests, against 2,386 in the same months of 2025.
Hill and New London reported only part of 2025 (3 months and 10 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Merrimack County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Merrimack 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 2024 the jail held about 190 people, up from about 170 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 275 beds, and it ran at 62 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 Merrimack County Sheriff's Office at merrimackcountysheriff.org (page title: Merrimack County Jail Roster Lookup, NH, Inmate Search), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 New Hampshire Department of Corrections lists its inmates at business.nh.gov/inmate_locator.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Merrimack County
Whether someone was arrested in Merrimack County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Merrimack County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Merrimack County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.nh.gov/your-visit/find-court/merrimack-superior-court, phone 855-212-1234); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at merrimackcounty.net/departments/county_attorney/index.php, phone (603) 228-0529).
New Hampshire does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the New Hampshire State Police Criminal Records Unit goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Merrimack 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 New Hampshire Right-to-Know Law the agency must answer within 5 business days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
- An arrest by the Merrimack County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Concord or Franklin: 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 Merrimack County State Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (603) 228-0529, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Merrimack County Superior Court, through the court records page at courts.nh.gov, phone 855-212-1234.
- Your own statewide record: a notarized request to the Criminal Records Unit.
Cities in Merrimack County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Merrimack County: Concord and Franklin. The FBI's list also carries the Allenstown Police Department, the Andover Police Department, the Boscawen Police Department and 21 more as city agencies in Merrimack County; Allenstown, Andover, Boscawen and 21 more are not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Merrimack County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Merrimack County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Concord (44,674)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Merrimack County each year?
Concord reported 2,012 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 25 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,159 between them.
Where are people arrested in Merrimack County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Merrimack County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Merrimack County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Merrimack County Superior Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the New Hampshire State Police Criminal Records Unit is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the New Hampshire Right-to-Know Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Merrimack County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Merrimack County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the New Hampshire Right-to-Know Law the answer is due within 5 business days.
Is this the official Merrimack 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.