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 October 4, 2026.
Johnson City, Tennessee, in Washington County, has about 74,000 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 Washington 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: Johnson City public records, Washington County arrest records, Tennessee arrest records and Tennessee inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Johnson City
The FBI lists Johnson City with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Johnson City Police Department. It reported 4,157 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 Washington County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 3,451 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Washington County: Drug Task Force's 1st Judicial District (other); East Tennessee State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Johnson City 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.
- Johnson City: 4,157 for 2025, 3,852 for 2024, 3,590 for 2023, 3,335 for 2022, 3,764 for 2021 and 3,817 for 2020.
Johnson City's 4,157 arrests in 2025 were up 7.9 percent from 3,852 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Johnson City reported 2,641 arrests, against 2,919 in the same months of 2025.
Across Washington County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 7,761 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Johnson City Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Johnson City 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 630 people, down from about 760 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 708 beds, and it ran at 89 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 Washington County Sheriff's Office at wcso.net (page title: Washington County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Johnson City
Whether someone was arrested in Johnson City, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Washington County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at washingtoncountytn.org/263/Courts); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-1).
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 Johnson City
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Johnson City police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at johnsoncitytn.org/departments/legal_/public_records_request.php (page title: Public Records Request | Johnson City, TN), phone 423-434-6012, 601 E. Main Street Johnson City, TN 37601, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Washington 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 Washington County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at washingtoncountytn.org/263/Courts.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at washingtoncountytn.org (page title: FORM 1 PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST FORM WASHINGTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Washington County guide covers every agency in the county: Washington County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Johnson City each year?
Johnson City reported 4,157 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Johnson City?
Ask the Washington County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at wcso.net.
Where are people arrested in Johnson City booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Washington County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Johnson City?
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 Johnson City?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Johnson City police for its own arrests, the Washington 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 washingtoncountytn.org.
Is this the official Johnson City 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.