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.
Woods County, Oklahoma, has about 8,600 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Woods County Sheriff's Office, two 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 Woods 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: Woods County public records, Oklahoma arrest records, Oklahoma inmate search and Oklahoma criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Woods County
The Woods County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Woods County. It reported 34 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Alva, 4,962 residents: 49 arrests reported for 2025.
- Waynoka, 703 residents: 1 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 one more agency in Woods County: Northwestern Oklahoma State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Woods 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.
- Alva: 49 for 2025, 23 for 2024, 25 for 2023, 52 for 2022, 44 for 2021 and 52 for 2020.
- Woods County Sheriff's Office: 34 for 2025, 41 for 2024, 38 for 2023, 35 for 2022, 28 for 2021 and 42 for 2020.
- Waynoka: 1 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 14 for 2023, 16 for 2022, 4 for 2021 and 15 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 84 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 84 in 2025 against 69 in 2024, up 22 percent.
Through June 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 45 arrests, against 43 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Woods County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Woods 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 8 people, down from about 28 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 15 beds, and it ran at 187 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 Woods County
For Woods 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 Woods County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Woods County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Alva or Waynoka: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Northwestern Oklahoma State University: the records office of the agency involved.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Woods County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the four cities in Woods County: Alva and Waynoka. Freedom and Dacoma 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 Woods County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Woods County each year?
Alva reported 49 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 84 between them.
Where are people arrested in Woods County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Woods County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Woods 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 Woods County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Woods 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 Woods 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.