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.
Lorain County, Ohio, has about 322,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, 14 city agencies and two 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 Lorain 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: Lorain County public records, Ohio arrest records, Ohio inmate search and Ohio criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lorain County
The Lorain County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lorain County. It reported 82 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside 14 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:
- Lorain, 65,751 residents: 1,651 arrests reported for 2025.
- Elyria, 53,604 residents: 1,544 arrests reported for 2025.
- North Ridgeville, 37,504 residents: 214 arrests reported for 2025.
- Avon Lake, 26,342 residents: 131 arrests reported for 2025.
- Avon, 25,573 residents: 298 arrests reported for 2025.
- Amherst, 13,048 residents: 282 arrests reported for 2025.
- Vermilion, 10,733 residents: 110 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sheffield Lake, 9,035 residents: 37 arrests reported for 2025.
- Oberlin, 8,587 residents: 161 arrests reported for 2025.
- Grafton, 5,804 residents: 7 arrests reported for 2025.
- Wellington, 4,894 residents.
- Sheffield, 4,605 residents: 72 arrests reported for 2023.
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 Lorain County: the Lorain County Metropolitan Park District and Lorain County Drug Task Force (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lorain 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.
- Lorain: 1,651 for 2025, 2,013 for 2024, 1,643 for 2023, 1,642 for 2022, 1,405 for 2021 and 1,410 for 2020.
- Elyria: 1,544 for 2025, 1,758 for 2024, 1,873 for 2023, 1,727 for 2022, 1,492 for 2021 and 1,416 for 2020.
- LaGrange: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Avon: 298 for 2025 and 266 for 2024.
- Amherst: 282 for 2025, 388 for 2024, 255 for 2023, 205 for 2022, 276 for 2021 and 267 for 2020.
- North Ridgeville: 214 for 2025, 189 for 2024, 252 for 2023, 243 for 2021 and 645 for 2019; 2020 and 2022 are missing months.
- Oberlin: 161 for 2025, 107 for 2024, 110 for 2023, 139 for 2022, 137 for 2021 and 205 for 2020.
- Avon Lake: 131 for 2025, 90 for 2023, 116 for 2022, 121 for 2021, 119 for 2020 and 124 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Vermilion: 110 for 2025, 148 for 2024, 105 for 2021, 119 for 2020 and 140 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Lorain County Sheriff's Office: 82 for 2025, 298 for 2024, 292 for 2023, 272 for 2022, 167 for 2021 and 198 for 2020.
- Sheffield Lake: 37 for 2025, 35 for 2024, 13 for 2023, 65 for 2021, 75 for 2020 and 54 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Grafton: 7 for 2025, 14 for 2024, 9 for 2023, 6 for 2022, 11 for 2021 and 17 for 2020.
Together, the 12 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,669 arrests that year. The 11 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,538 in 2025 against 6,368 in 2024, down 13 percent.
Through May 2026, the nine agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,232 arrests, against 2,307 in the same months of 2025.
Wellington, Kipton and Sheffield reported only part of 2025 (2 months, 2 months and 1 month) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lorain County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lorain 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 390 people, down from about 420 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 422 beds, and it ran at 92 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 Lorain County Sheriff's Office at loraincountysheriff.com/inmates-jail/self-booking (page title: Self Booking | The Lorain County Sheriff’s Office), phone 440-329-3709, 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 Lorain County
Whether someone was arrested in Lorain County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Lorain County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at loraincountyohio.gov/clerk, phone 614-644-4559).
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 Lorain 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 Lorain County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 440-329-3709.
- An arrest in Lorain, Elyria, North Ridgeville, Avon Lake, Avon, Amherst 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 Lorain County Metropolitan Park District or Lorain County Drug Task Force: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at loraincountyohio.gov/clerk, phone 614-644-4559.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location.
Cities in Lorain County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 14 of the 16 cities in Lorain County: the twelve named above and LaGrange and Kipton. South Amherst and Rochester 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 Lorain County Court of Common Pleas.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lorain 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 Lorain County each year?
Lorain reported 1,651 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 12 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,669 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lorain County?
Look on the custody page of the Lorain County Sheriff's Office at loraincountysheriff.com, or call 440-329-3709. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Lorain County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lorain County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lorain County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Lorain 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 Lorain County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lorain 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.
Is this the official Lorain 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.