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 23, 2026 and September 25, 2026.
Cleveland, Tennessee, in Bradley 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 General files charges, a case in the Bradley County Circuit and Chancery Courts. 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: Cleveland public records, Bradley County arrest records, Tennessee arrest records and Tennessee inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Cleveland
The FBI lists Cleveland with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Cleveland Police Department. It reported 2,372 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 Bradley County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 3,091 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Bradley County: Drug Task Force's 10th Judicial District (other); Cleveland State Community College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Cleveland Reports
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.
- Cleveland: 2,372 for 2025, 2,385 for 2024, 1,926 for 2023, 2,186 for 2022, 2,992 for 2021 and 3,278 for 2020.
Cleveland's 2,372 arrests in 2025 were down 0.5 percent from 2,385 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Cleveland reported 1,766 arrests, against 1,549 in the same months of 2025.
Across Bradley County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,478 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cleveland Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Cleveland 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 2024 the jail held about 490 people, down from about 540 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 510 beds, and it ran at 96 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 Bradley County Sheriff's Office at bradleysheriff.com/booking-reports (page title: Booking Reports | BradleyCountySheriff), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Tennessee Department of Correction lists its inmates at foil.app.tn.gov/foil/search.jsp.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Cleveland
An arrest in Cleveland can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Bradley County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Bradley County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at bradleycountytn.gov/departments/courts); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-11/about).
Tennessee is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: TORIS lets anyone run a name-based criminal history search online, for $29 a search, through the Tennessee 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 Cleveland
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 Tennessee Public Records Act the agency must answer within 7 business days, and it may charge copying, and labor after the first hour.
- An arrest by the Cleveland police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at clevelandtn.gov/533/Records (page title: Records | Cleveland, TN), phone (423) 478-5252, 2230 Blythe Avenue S Cleveland, TN 37311, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Bradley County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney General handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Bradley County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at bradleycountytn.gov/departments/courts.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bradleysheriff.com/records-request (page title: Records Request | BradleyCountySheriff).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Bradley County guide covers every agency in the county: Bradley County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cleveland each year?
Cleveland reported 2,372 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cleveland?
Look on the custody page of the Bradley County Sheriff's Office at bradleysheriff.com/booking-reports. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Cleveland booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bradley County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cleveland?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation: TORIS lets anyone run a name-based criminal history search online, for $29. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Tennessee Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Cleveland?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cleveland police for its own arrests, the Bradley County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Tennessee Public Records Act the answer is due within 7 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bradleysheriff.com/records-request.
Is this the official Cleveland 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.