Allen County Arrest Records: Who Makes Arrests, Where People Are Booked and How to Get the Report

Who Makes Arrests in Allen County

The Allen County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Allen County. It reported 121 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside five 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:

• Lima, 34,690 residents: 901 arrests reported for 2025.
• Delphos, 7,074 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2025.
• Bluffton, 3,881 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2023.
• Spencerville, 2,164 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2023.
• Elida, 1,904 residents: 0 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 these agencies in Allen County: the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District and Lima Park Services Ranger Division (other).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Allen 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.

• Lima: 901 for 2025, 966 for 2024, 1,403 for 2023, 1,298 for 2022, 987 for 2021 and 2,876 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
• Allen County Sheriff's Office: 121 for 2025, 133 for 2023, 160 for 2022, 180 for 2021, 2,459 for 2020 and 5,978 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
• Shawnee Township: 108 for 2025, 97 for 2024, 37 for 2023, 83 for 2022, 72 for 2021 and 73 for 2020.
• Delphos: 8 for 2025, 3 for 2024, 7 for 2022, 3 for 2021, 200 for 2020 and 330 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
• American Township: 6 for 2025, 6 for 2024, 5 for 2023, 8 for 2022, 5 for 2021 and 4 for 2020.
• Perry Township: 5 for 2025.
• Elida: 0 for 2025 and 0 for 2022; 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
• Bluffton: 2 for 2023, 0 for 2022 and 6 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
• Spencerville: 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022 and 1 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.

Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,149 arrests that year. The four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,023 in 2025 against 1,072 in 2024, down 4.6 percent.

Through May 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 475 arrests, against 489 in the same months of 2025.

Marion Township, Spencerville and Bluffton reported only part of 2025 (4 months, 11 months and 10 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Allen County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Allen 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 190 people, down from about 280 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 216 beds, and it ran at 86 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.

A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction lists its inmates at appgateway.drc.ohio.gov/OffenderSearch.

How to Find Out About an Arrest in Allen County

Whether someone was arrested in Allen County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Allen County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at clerkofcourts.allencountyohio.com); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at allencountyprosecutor.net/civil-division).

Ohio does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation 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 Allen 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 Ohio Public Records Act the agency must answer promptly, within a reasonable period of time, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.

• An arrest by the Allen County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
• An arrest in Lima, Delphos, Bluffton, Spencerville or Elida: 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 Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District or Lima Park Services Ranger Division: the records office of the agency involved.
• A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
• The court file of a case that was filed: the Allen County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at clerkofcourts.allencountyohio.com.
• Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at allenohioprobate.com (page title: Public Records Request | Allen County Juvenile & Probate Court).
• Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location.

Cities in Allen County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the nine cities in Allen County: Lima, Delphos, Bluffton, Spencerville and Elida. Cairo, Harrod, Lafayette and Beaverdam have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Shawnee Township Police Department, the American Township Police Department, Perry Township Police Department, Allen County and one more as city agencies in Allen County; Shawnee Township, American Township, Perry Township and one 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 Allen County Court of Common Pleas.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Allen County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

• Lima (34,690)

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Allen County each year?

Lima reported 901 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,149 between them.

Where are people arrested in Allen County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Allen County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Allen County?

The court files of criminal cases in the Allen County Court of Common Pleas are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Ohio Public Records Act.

How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Allen County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Allen County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Ohio Public Records Act the answer is due promptly, within a reasonable period of time; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at allenohioprobate.com.

Is this the official Allen 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.