Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 24, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
McAlester, Oklahoma, in Pittsburg County, has about 18,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Pittsburg County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: McAlester public records, Pittsburg County arrest records, Oklahoma arrest records and Oklahoma inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in McAlester
The FBI lists McAlester with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as McAlester Police Department. It reported 519 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 116 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Pittsburg County: McAlester Public Schools (other); Kiamichi Technology Center (campus police).
How Many Arrests McAlester Reports
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.
- McAlester: 519 for 2025, 538 for 2024, 471 for 2023, 569 for 2022, 579 for 2021 and 511 for 2020.
McAlester's 519 arrests in 2025 were down 3.5 percent from 538 in 2024.
Through June 2026, McAlester reported 189 arrests, against 251 in the same months of 2025.
Across Pittsburg County, the eight agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 776 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in McAlester Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in McAlester 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 170 people, up from about 91 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 214 beds, and it ran at 43 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 Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office at pittsburgsheriff.com/jail-roster (page title: Jail Roster | Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office), 1210 N West St McAlester, OK 74501, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Oklahoma Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at okoffender.doc.ok.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in McAlester
An arrest in McAlester can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Pittsburg County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at pittsburg.okcounties.org/offices/court-clerk, phone 918.423.4859); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at highergov.com/awardee/pittsburg-county-district-attorney-office-133...).
Statewide, OSCN and ODCR is the free online dockets of every Oklahoma district court.
Oklahoma is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can order a name-based criminal history search online, for $15 a search, through the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in McAlester
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Oklahoma Open Records Act the agency must answer promptly; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge copying at no more than 25 cents a page.
- An arrest by the McAlester police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cityofmcalester.com/residents/city_services___departments/police/re... (page title: City of McAlester,OK), phone (918) 423-1212, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Pittsburg County District Court, through the court records page at pittsburg.okcounties.org/offices/court-clerk, phone 918.423.4859.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Pittsburg County guide covers every agency in the county: Pittsburg County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in McAlester each year?
McAlester reported 519 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in McAlester?
Look on the custody page of the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office at pittsburgsheriff.com/jail-roster. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in McAlester booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in McAlester?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation: anyone can order a name-based criminal history search online, for $15. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Oklahoma Open Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in McAlester?
From the agency that made the arrest: the McAlester police for its own arrests, the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Oklahoma Open Records Act the answer is due promptly; the statute sets no number of days.
Is this the official McAlester website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.