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.
Nowata County, Oklahoma, has about 9,600 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Nowata County Sheriff's Office and two city 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the Nowata County District Court. 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: Nowata County public records, Oklahoma arrest records, Oklahoma inmate search and Oklahoma criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Nowata County
The Nowata County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Nowata County. It reported 37 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Nowata County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Nowata, 3,592 residents: 54 arrests reported for 2025.
- South Coffeyville, 694 residents: 24 arrests reported for 2025.
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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Nowata 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.
- Nowata: 54 for 2025, 54 for 2024, 46 for 2023, 61 for 2022, 59 for 2021 and 107 for 2020.
- Nowata County Sheriff's Office: 37 for 2025, 40 for 2024, 57 for 2023, 17 for 2022, 37 for 2021 and 38 for 2020.
- South Coffeyville: 24 for 2025, 29 for 2024, 39 for 2023, 26 for 2022, 64 for 2021 and 35 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 115 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 115 in 2025 against 123 in 2024, down 6.5 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 49 arrests, against 53 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Nowata County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Nowata County 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 8 people, down from about 22 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 67 beds, and it ran at 33 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Nowata County
For Nowata County the place to look is 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 Nowata 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 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 Nowata County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Nowata or South Coffeyville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Nowata County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the six cities in Nowata County: Nowata and South Coffeyville. Lenapah, Delaware, Wann and New Alluwe 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 Nowata County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Nowata County each year?
Nowata reported 54 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 115 between them.
Where are people arrested in Nowata County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Nowata County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Nowata County?
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 Nowata County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Nowata County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Oklahoma Open Records Act the answer is due promptly; the statute sets no number of days.
Is this the official Nowata 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.