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 2024. 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 26, 2026.
Dayton, Tennessee, in Rhea County, has about 7,800 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 Rhea 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: Dayton public records, Rhea County arrest records, Tennessee arrest records and Tennessee inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Dayton
The FBI lists Dayton with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Dayton Police Department. It reported 290 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year. 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 Rhea County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 795 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Dayton 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.
- Dayton: 290 for 2024, 294 for 2023, 317 for 2022, 565 for 2021, 483 for 2020 and 482 for 2019.
Dayton's 290 arrests in 2024 were down 1.4 percent from 294 in 2023.
Across Rhea County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 1,210 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dayton Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Dayton 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 270 people, up from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 342 beds, and it ran at 80 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 Rhea County Sheriff's Office at rheacountytn.gov/contact-us-2 (page title: Contact Us | Rhea County Sheriff's Office.), phone 423-775-7832, 7800 Rhea County Hwy Dayton, TN 37321, Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 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 Dayton
For Dayton the place to look is the case index of the Rhea 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/9782384).
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 Dayton
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 Dayton police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at daytontn.net/departments/police_department.php (page title: City Police), phone 423-775-8403, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Rhea County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 423-775-7832.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Rhea County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/node/9782384.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Rhea County guide covers every agency in the county: Rhea County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dayton each year?
Dayton reported 290 arrests to the FBI for 2024, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Dayton?
Ask the Rhea County Sheriff's Office at 423-775-7832; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at rheacountytn.gov/contact-us-2.
Where are people arrested in Dayton booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Rhea County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dayton?
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 Dayton?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dayton police for its own arrests, the Rhea 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 Dayton 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.