SearchSystems Editorial

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 23, 2026.

About this guide

Franklin County, Ohio, has about 1.4 million residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, 26 city agencies and six campus, state or other agencies. 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 Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. 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: Franklin County public records, Ohio arrest records, Ohio inmate search and Ohio criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Franklin County

The Franklin County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Franklin County. It reported 875 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside 19 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, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • Columbus, 933,263 residents: 6,925 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Dublin, 49,456 residents: 342 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Grove City, 44,019 residents: 1,827 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Reynoldsburg, 42,897 residents: 995 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Hilliard, 38,832 residents: 667 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Westerville, 38,612 residents: 557 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Upper Arlington, 36,140 residents: 309 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Gahanna, 35,544 residents: 554 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Whitehall, 19,940 residents: 3,042 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Worthington, 14,649 residents: 178 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Bexley, 12,793 residents: 270 arrests reported for 2025.
  • New Albany, 11,604 residents: 160 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 Pickerington Police Department and the Lithopolis Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Franklin County, so their arrests are not broken out for Franklin County here.

The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Franklin County: the Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District and the Port Columbus International Airport (other); Ohio State University at Columbus, Columbus State Community College, Otterbein University and Capital University (campus police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Franklin 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.

  • Columbus: 6,925 for 2025, 7,363 for 2024, 7,732 for 2023, 8,213 for 2022, 7,500 for 2021 and 8,455 for 2020.
  • Whitehall: 3,042 for 2025, 3,601 for 2024, 4,306 for 2023, 3,401 for 2022, 2,858 for 2021 and 1,982 for 2020.
  • Grove City: 1,827 for 2025, 1,725 for 2024, 1,815 for 2023, 1,620 for 2022, 1,299 for 2021 and 919 for 2020.
  • Brice: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
  • Valleyview: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
  • Reynoldsburg: 995 for 2025, 1,067 for 2024, 1,203 for 2023, 1,194 for 2022, 1,122 for 2021 and 995 for 2020.
  • Franklin County Sheriff's Office: 875 for 2025, 1,007 for 2024, 993 for 2023, 865 for 2022, 344 for 2020 and 429 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Hilliard: 667 for 2025, 640 for 2024, 605 for 2023, 539 for 2022, 497 for 2021 and 438 for 2020.
  • Westerville: 557 for 2025, 494 for 2024, 490 for 2023, 533 for 2022, 445 for 2021 and 473 for 2020.
  • Gahanna: 554 for 2025, 565 for 2024, 601 for 2023, 547 for 2022, 446 for 2021 and 419 for 2020.
  • Dublin: 342 for 2025, 364 for 2024, 338 for 2022, 401 for 2021, 436 for 2020 and 628 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
  • Upper Arlington: 309 for 2025, 374 for 2024, 383 for 2023, 256 for 2022, 334 for 2021 and 250 for 2020.

Together, the 24 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 19,932 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 19,932 in 2025 against 21,117 in 2024, down 5.6 percent.

Through July 2026, the 19 agencies with every month so far on file reported 8,313 arrests, against 8,777 in the same months of 2025.

Sharon Township, Harrisburg and Minerva Park reported only part of 2025 (10 months, 3 months and 9 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Franklin County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Franklin 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 2023 the jail held about 1,660 people, down from about 2,120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,883 beds, and it ran at 88 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 Franklin County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.franklincountyohio.gov/Services/Inmate-Information (page title: Inmate Information | Franklin County Sheriff’s Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.

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 person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, whose inmate locator is at appgateway.drc.ohio.gov/OffenderSearch.

How to Find Out About an Arrest in Franklin County

Whether someone was arrested in Franklin County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at fcdcfcjs.co.franklin.oh.us/CaseInformationOnline); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at franklincountyohio.gov/Agency-Directory/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 614-525-3555).

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 Franklin 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 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 Franklin County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Columbus, Dublin, Grove City, Reynoldsburg, Hilliard, Westerville or another of the cities listed above: 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 Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District, Ohio State University at Columbus or Columbus State Community College: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 614-525-3555, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at fcdcfcjs.co.franklin.oh.us.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at clerk.franklincountyohio.gov (page title: Public Records Request Form | Franklin County Clerk of Courts).
  • Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location.

Cities in Franklin County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 19 of the 24 cities in Franklin County: the twelve named above and Grandview Heights, Obetz, Groveport, Minerva Park, Valleyview, Harrisburg and Brice. Canal Winchester, Urbancrest, Marble Cliff, Riverlea and Lockbourne have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Sharon Township Police Department, the Blendon Township Police Department, the Clinton Township Police Department and four more as city agencies in Franklin County; Sharon Township, Blendon Township, Clinton Township and four 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 Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Franklin County each year?

Columbus reported 6,925 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 24 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 19,932 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Franklin County?

Look on the custody page of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.franklincountyohio.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Franklin County booked?

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

Are arrest records public in Franklin County?

The court files of criminal cases in the Franklin 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 Franklin County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Franklin 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 clerk.franklincountyohio.gov.

Is this the official Franklin 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.