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 24, 2026.
Ottawa County, Oklahoma, has about 30,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office, five city agencies and three campus, state or 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the Ottawa 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: Ottawa County public records, Oklahoma arrest records, Oklahoma inmate search and Oklahoma criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Ottawa County
The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Ottawa County. It reported 38 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside five 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:
- Miami, 12,886 residents: 251 arrests reported for 2025.
- Commerce, 2,268 residents: 14 arrests reported for 2023.
- Fairland, 1,109 residents: 40 arrests reported for 2025.
- Afton, 752 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2025.
- Wyandotte, 495 residents: 21 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.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Ottawa County: Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and Northeast Technology Center (campus police); Miami Public Schools (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Ottawa 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.
- Miami: 251 for 2025, 406 for 2024, 509 for 2023, 333 for 2022, 331 for 2021 and 269 for 2020.
- Fairland: 40 for 2025, 25 for 2024, 17 for 2023, 3 for 2022, 12 for 2021 and 6 for 2020.
- Ottawa County Sheriff's Office: 38 for 2025, 49 for 2024, 74 for 2023, 68 for 2022, 46 for 2021 and 38 for 2020.
- Wyandotte: 21 for 2025, 14 for 2024, 17 for 2023, 6 for 2022, 16 for 2021 and 24 for 2020.
- Afton: 8 for 2025 and 5 for 2024.
- Commerce: 14 for 2023, 17 for 2022, 14 for 2021 and 30 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 358 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 358 in 2025 against 499 in 2024, down 28 percent.
Through May 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 173 arrests, against 154 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ottawa County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Ottawa 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 87 people, down from about 100 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 124 beds, and it ran at 76 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 Ottawa County Sheriff's Office at ottawacountysook.gov/inmate-search (page title: Inmate Search | Ottawa 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 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 Ottawa County
Whether someone was arrested in Ottawa County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Ottawa County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at ottawaok.gov/offices/court-clerk, phone 918.542.2801); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at ottawaok.gov/offices/district-attorney, phone 918.542.5547).
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 Ottawa 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 Ottawa County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 877-654-8463.
- An arrest in Miami, Commerce, Fairland, Afton or Wyandotte: 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 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, Northeast Technology Center or Miami Public Schools: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 918.542.5547, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Ottawa County District Court, through the court records page at ottawaok.gov/offices/court-clerk, phone 918.542.2801.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Ottawa County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the eight cities in Ottawa County: Miami, Commerce, Fairland, Afton and Wyandotte. Quapaw, North Miami and Peoria 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 Ottawa County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Ottawa County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Miami (12,886)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ottawa County each year?
Miami reported 251 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 358 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ottawa County?
Look on the custody page of the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office at ottawacountysook.gov/inmate-search, or call 877-654-8463. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Ottawa County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ottawa 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 Ottawa County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ottawa 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 Ottawa 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.