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 between September 23, 2026 and October 1, 2026.

About this guide

Hamilton County, Ohio, has about 837,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, 35 city agencies and four 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 Hamilton 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: Hamilton County public records, Ohio arrest records, Ohio inmate search and Ohio criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Hamilton County

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hamilton County. It reported 1,338 arrests for 2025.

The FBI lists 30 cities in Hamilton County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • Cincinnati, 314,915 residents: 5,572 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Forest Park, 20,033 residents: 283 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Norwood, 19,455 residents: 572 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Sharonville, 14,040 residents: 335 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Blue Ash, 13,616 residents: 241 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Harrison, 13,526 residents: 146 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Loveland, 13,277 residents: 124 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Springdale, 11,183 residents: 193 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Montgomery, 10,952 residents: 82 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Reading, 10,482 residents: 375 arrests reported for 2025.
  • North College Hill, 9,552 residents: 336 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Madeira, 9,542 residents: 34 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 Milford Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Hamilton County, so its arrests are not broken out for Hamilton County here.

The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Hamilton County: the University of Cincinnati, Mount St. Joseph University and Cincinnati State College (campus police); the Hamilton County Park District (other).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Hamilton 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.

  • Cincinnati: 5,572 for 2025, 5,296 for 2024, 5,522 for 2023, 6,037 for 2022, 5,706 for 2021 and 6,096 for 2020.
  • Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: 1,338 for 2025, 1,231 for 2024, 1,132 for 2023, 1,086 for 2022 and 13,085 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
  • Terrace Park: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
  • Colerain Township: 925 for 2025, 955 for 2024, 855 for 2023, 741 for 2022, 608 for 2021 and 606 for 2020.
  • Springfield Township: 693 for 2025, 717 for 2024, 787 for 2023, 884 for 2022, 831 for 2021 and 684 for 2020.
  • Norwood: 572 for 2025, 573 for 2024, 739 for 2023, 594 for 2022 and 919 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
  • Green Township: 430 for 2025, 443 for 2024, 431 for 2023, 436 for 2022, 398 for 2021 and 329 for 2020.
  • Reading: 375 for 2025, 281 for 2024, 324 for 2023, 361 for 2022, 446 for 2021 and 389 for 2020.
  • North College Hill: 336 for 2025, 337 for 2024, 375 for 2023, 108 for 2020 and 128 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Sharonville: 335 for 2025, 288 for 2024 and 288 for 2023.
  • Mount Healthy: 286 for 2025, 208 for 2024, 280 for 2023, 239 for 2022, 175 for 2021 and 395 for 2020.
  • Forest Park: 283 for 2025, 245 for 2024, 242 for 2023, 213 for 2022, 208 for 2021 and 174 for 2020.

Together, the 32 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 14,329 arrests that year. The 29 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 14,218 in 2025 against 13,933 in 2024, up 2 percent.

Through August 2026, the 28 agencies with every month so far on file reported 8,762 arrests, against 8,989 in the same months of 2025.

Mariemont, Amberley and Indian Hill reported only part of 2025 (10 months, 10 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Hamilton County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hamilton 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 2024 the jail held about 1,140 people, down from about 1,800 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 2,005 beds, and it ran at 57 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 Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at hcso.org/justice-center-services/inmate-search (page title: Hamilton County Justice Center | Inmate Search | Hamilton County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 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 Hamilton County

An arrest in Hamilton County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncountyohio.gov/community/court_records.php); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at hamiltoncountyohio.gov/government/courts/prosecutors_office/index.php).

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 Hamilton 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 Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Cincinnati, Forest Park, Norwood, Sharonville, Blue Ash, Harrison 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 University of Cincinnati, the Hamilton County Park District or Mount St. Joseph University: 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 Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at hamiltoncountyohio.gov.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncountyohio.gov (page title: Public Records Requests | Hamilton County, OH).
  • Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location.

Cities in Hamilton County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 30 of the 36 cities in Hamilton County: the twelve named above and Wyoming, Cheviot, Mount Healthy, Deer Park, St. Bernard, Woodlawn, Amberley, Golf Manor, Greenhills, Lockland, Mariemont, Newtown, Evendale, Terrace Park, Glendale, Elmwood Place, Fairfax and Addyston. The Village of Indian Hill, Silverton, Cleves, Lincoln Heights, North Bend and Arlington Heights have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries Springfield Township Police Department, Hamilton County, the Colerain Township Police Department, the Green Township Police Department and two more as city agencies in Hamilton County; Springfield Township, Colerain Township, Green Township and two 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 Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Hamilton 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 Hamilton County each year?

Cincinnati reported 5,572 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 32 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 14,329 between them.

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

Look on the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at hcso.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Hamilton County booked?

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

Are arrest records public in Hamilton County?

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

From the agency that made the arrest: the Hamilton 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 hamiltoncountyohio.gov.

Is this the official Hamilton 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.