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 26, 2026.
Purcell, Oklahoma, in McClain County, has about 6,900 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 McClain 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: Purcell public records, McClain County arrest records, Oklahoma arrest records and Oklahoma inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Purcell
The FBI lists Purcell with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Purcell Police Department. It reported 104 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 McClain County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 60 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Purcell Reports
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.
- Purcell: 104 for 2025, 119 for 2024, 99 for 2023, 88 for 2022, 110 for 2021 and 153 for 2020.
Purcell's 104 arrests in 2025 were down 13 percent from 119 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Purcell reported 65 arrests, against 66 in the same months of 2025.
Across McClain County, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 304 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Purcell Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Purcell 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 2024 the jail held about 65 people, down from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2020, the last year with a capacity figure, was 56 beds, and it ran at 147 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 McClain County Sheriff's Office at mcclaincountysheriff.com/inmate-search (page title: Inmate Search | McClain County Sheriff's Office), phone 877-654-8463, 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 Purcell
Whether someone was arrested in Purcell, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the McClain County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; OSCN and ODCR, the free online dockets of every Oklahoma district court, which shows whether charges were filed.
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 Purcell
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 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 Purcell police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at purcellok.gov/175/Reports-Records (page title: Reports & Records | Purcell, OK), phone (405) 527-4605, 1515 N Green Avenue Purcell, OK 73080, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the McClain County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 877-654-8463.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The McClain County guide covers every agency in the county: McClain County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Purcell each year?
Purcell reported 104 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Purcell?
Look on the custody page of the McClain County Sheriff's Office at mcclaincountysheriff.com/inmate-search, or call 877-654-8463. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Purcell booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the McClain County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Purcell?
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 Purcell?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Purcell police for its own arrests, the McClain 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 Purcell 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.