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.
Stillwater, Oklahoma, in Payne County, has about 50,000 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 Payne 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: Stillwater public records, Payne County arrest records, Oklahoma arrest records and Oklahoma inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Stillwater
The FBI lists Stillwater with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Stillwater Police Department. It reported 1,193 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 Payne County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 182 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Payne County: Oklahoma State University's Main Campus (campus police).
How Many Arrests Stillwater 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.
- Stillwater: 1,193 for 2025, 1,227 for 2024, 1,192 for 2023, 1,086 for 2022, 1,013 for 2021 and 774 for 2020.
Stillwater's 1,193 arrests in 2025 were down 2.8 percent from 1,227 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Stillwater reported 723 arrests, against 667 in the same months of 2025.
Across Payne County, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,657 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Stillwater Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Stillwater 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 240 people, up from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 404 beds, and it ran at 54 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Oklahoma Department of Corrections lists its inmates at okoffender.doc.ok.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Stillwater
An arrest in Stillwater can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Payne County District Court, kept by the Court Clerk, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at paynecounty.org/district-attorney, phone (405) 372-4883).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at courtclerk.paynecounty.org/record-searches (page title: Record Searches « Payne County Court Clerk), phone (405) 372-4774, belongs to a lower court, not to the Payne County District Court.
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 Stillwater
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 Stillwater police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at stillwaterok.gov/445/Open-Records-Request (page title: Open Records Request | Stillwater, Ok), phone (405) 372-4171, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Payne County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (405) 372-4883, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Payne County District Court it is kept by the Court Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at courtclerk.paynecounty.org/record-searches, phone (405) 372-4774, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Payne County guide covers every agency in the county: Payne County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Stillwater each year?
Stillwater reported 1,193 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Stillwater booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Payne County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Stillwater?
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 Stillwater?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Stillwater police for its own arrests, the Payne 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 Stillwater 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.