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 30, 2026.
Columbia, Tennessee, in Maury County, has about 49,000 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 Maury 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: Columbia public records, Maury County arrest records, Tennessee arrest records and Tennessee inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Columbia
The FBI lists Columbia with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Columbia Police Department. It reported 2,103 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 Maury County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,664 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Maury County: Columbia State Community College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Columbia Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Columbia: 2,103 for 2025, 1,925 for 2024, 1,958 for 2023, 1,525 for 2022, 1,544 for 2021 and 2,032 for 2020.
Columbia's 2,103 arrests in 2025 were up 9.2 percent from 1,925 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Columbia reported 1,552 arrests, against 1,616 in the same months of 2025.
Across Maury County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,979 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Columbia Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Columbia 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 280 people, down from about 330 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 386 beds, and it ran at 72 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Maury County Sheriff's Office at maurycounty-tn.gov/164/Corrections (page title: Corrections | Maury County, TN), phone 931-380-5733, 1300 Lawson White Drive Columbia, TN 38401, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Columbia
An arrest in Columbia can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Maury County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at tncourts.gov/clerks/all/all?tid=112); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-22).
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 Columbia
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 Columbia police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at columbiatn.gov/369/Records-Division (page title: Records Division | Columbia, TN), phone 931-560-1650, 707 N Main Street Columbia, TN 38401, Monday through Friday 7:30 am to 4 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Maury County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 931-380-5733.
- 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 Maury County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/clerks/all/all?tid=112.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Maury County guide covers every agency in the county: Maury County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Columbia each year?
Columbia reported 2,103 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Columbia?
Ask the Maury County Sheriff's Office at 931-380-5733; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at maurycounty-tn.gov/164/Corrections.
Where are people arrested in Columbia booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Maury County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Columbia?
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 Columbia?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Columbia police for its own arrests, the Maury County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Tennessee Public Records Act the answer is due within 7 business days.
Is this the official Columbia 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.