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 between September 24, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Payne County, Oklahoma, has about 84,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Payne County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and one campus agency. 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 Payne 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: Payne County public records, Oklahoma arrest records, Oklahoma inmate search and Oklahoma criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Payne County
The Payne County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Payne County. It reported 182 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside four 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:
- Stillwater, 50,138 residents: 1,193 arrests reported for 2025.
- Cushing, 8,444 residents: 148 arrests reported for 2025.
- Perkins, 3,292 residents: 125 arrests reported for 2025.
- Yale, 1,075 residents: 9 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 Drumright Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Payne County, so its arrests are not broken out for Payne County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Payne County: Oklahoma State University's Main Campus (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Payne 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.
- 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.
- Payne County Sheriff's Office: 182 for 2025, 277 for 2024, 155 for 2023, 141 for 2022, 142 for 2021 and 132 for 2020.
- Cushing: 148 for 2025, 145 for 2024, 132 for 2023, 180 for 2022, 180 for 2021 and 125 for 2020.
- Perkins: 125 for 2025, 118 for 2024, 116 for 2023, 82 for 2022, 65 for 2021 and 68 for 2020.
- Yale: 9 for 2025, 8 for 2024, 13 for 2023, 20 for 2022, 23 for 2021 and 21 for 2020.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,657 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,657 in 2025 against 1,775 in 2024, down 6.6 percent.
Through July 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,021 arrests, against 914 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Payne County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Payne 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 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 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 Payne County
An arrest in Payne County 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 Payne 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 Payne County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Stillwater, Cushing, Perkins or Yale: 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 Oklahoma State University's Main Campus: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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.
Cities in Payne County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the six cities in Payne County: Stillwater, Cushing, Perkins and Yale. Glencoe and Ripley 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 Payne County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Payne County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Stillwater (50,138)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Payne County each year?
Stillwater reported 1,193 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,657 between them.
Where are people arrested in Payne County 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 Payne 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 Payne County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Payne 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 Payne 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.