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.
Covington, Tennessee, in Tipton County, has about 8,600 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 Tipton 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: Covington public records, Tipton County arrest records, Tennessee arrest records and Tennessee inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Covington
The FBI lists Covington with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Covington Police Department. It reported 721 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 Tipton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,092 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Covington 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.
- Covington: 721 for 2025, 655 for 2024, 675 for 2023, 627 for 2022, 1,053 for 2020 and 1,131 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Covington's 721 arrests in 2025 were up 10 percent from 655 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Covington reported 493 arrests, against 514 in the same months of 2025.
Across Tipton County, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,381 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Covington Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Covington 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 260 people, up from about 240 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 211 beds, and it ran at 123 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 Tipton County Sheriff's Office at tiptonco.com/government/sheriff/index.php (page title: Sheriff's Office), phone 901-475-3300, 1801 S College St, Ste 106 Covington, TN 38019, MON 8:00AM - 5:00PM, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Covington
An arrest in Covington can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Tipton 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/node/9782396); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-25).
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 Covington
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 Covington police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at covingtontn.gov/announcements/public-records-policy (page title: Public Records Policy | City of Covington, Tennessee), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Tipton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 901-475-3300.
- 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 Tipton County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/node/9782396.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Tipton County guide covers every agency in the county: Tipton County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Covington each year?
Covington reported 721 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Covington?
Ask the Tipton County Sheriff's Office at 901-475-3300; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at tiptonco.com/government/sheriff/index.php.
Where are people arrested in Covington booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Tipton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Covington?
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 Covington?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Covington police for its own arrests, the Tipton 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 Covington 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.