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

Lake County, Ohio, has about 232,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lake County Sheriff's Office, 17 city agencies and two 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 Lake 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: Lake County public records, Ohio arrest records, Ohio inmate search and Ohio criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Lake County

The Lake County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lake County. It reported 3,888 arrests for 2020, its latest complete year.

Arrests inside 17 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:

  • Mentor, 47,113 residents: 907 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Willoughby, 24,208 residents: 284 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Painesville, 20,660 residents: 561 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Eastlake, 17,423 residents: 423 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Willowick, 14,159 residents: 194 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Wickliffe, 12,659 residents: 323 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Willoughby Hills, 9,986 residents: 309 arrests reported for 2023.
  • Mentor-on-the-Lake, 7,106 residents: 83 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Kirtland, 6,914 residents: 29 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Madison, 3,424 residents: 50 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Madison (township), 3,424 residents: 76 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Fairport Harbor, 3,088 residents.

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 Lake County: Lakeland Community College (campus police); Lake Metroparks (other).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lake 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.

  • North Perry: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
  • Mentor: 907 for 2025, 966 for 2024, 1,198 for 2023, 1,104 for 2022, 1,071 for 2021 and 809 for 2020.
  • Painesville: 561 for 2025 and 479 for 2024.
  • Eastlake: 423 for 2025, 484 for 2024, 499 for 2020 and 1,137 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Wickliffe: 323 for 2025, 278 for 2024, 473 for 2023, 565 for 2022 and 554 for 2021.
  • Willoughby: 284 for 2025, 246 for 2024, 286 for 2023, 247 for 2022, 196 for 2020 and 301 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Willowick: 194 for 2025, 207 for 2024, 195 for 2023, 148 for 2022 and 105 for 2021.
  • Mentor-on-the-Lake: 83 for 2025, 102 for 2024, 138 for 2021, 141 for 2020 and 149 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Madison: 50 for 2025, 59 for 2024, 54 for 2023 and 39 for 2022.
  • Kirtland: 29 for 2025, 44 for 2024, 51 for 2023, 29 for 2022, 99 for 2020 and 106 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Lake County Sheriff's Office: 3,888 for 2020.
  • Willoughby Hills: 309 for 2023, 191 for 2022 and 255 for 2021.

Together, the ten agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,006 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,006 in 2025 against 4,017 in 2024, down 0.3 percent.

Through July 2026, the eight agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,093 arrests, against 2,128 in the same months of 2025.

Lake County Sheriff's Office, Fairport Harbor, Perry, Willoughby Hills and two more reported only part of 2025 (10 months, 7 months, 9 months and 1 month) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Lake County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lake 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 290 people, down from about 350 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 429 beds, and it ran at 68 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 Lake County Sheriff's Office at lakecountyohio.gov/sheriff/sheriffs-jail-roster (page title: Sheriff's Jail Roster | Sheriff), 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 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 Lake County

Whether someone was arrested in Lake County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Lake County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Lake County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountyohio.gov/coc/public-records-requests); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at lakecountyohio.gov/lakecountyprosecutor/office-directory-new, phone 440-350-2683).

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 Lake 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 Lake County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Mentor, Willoughby, Painesville, Eastlake, Willowick, Wickliffe 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 Lakeland Community College or Lake Metroparks: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 440-350-2683, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Lake County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at lakecountyohio.gov.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountyohio.gov (page title: Public Records Requests | Clerk of Courts).
  • Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location.

Cities in Lake County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 17 of the 18 cities in Lake County: the twelve named above and Perry, North Perry, Kirtland Hills, Timberlake and Waite Hill. Grand River and Lakeline 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 Lake County Court of Common Pleas.

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

North Perry reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the ten agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,006 between them.

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

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

Where are people arrested in Lake County booked?

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

Are arrest records public in Lake County?

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

From the agency that made the arrest: the Lake 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 lakecountyohio.gov.

Is this the official Lake 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.