Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. 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 2, 2026.
Lakeland, Tennessee, in Shelby County, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). 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 Shelby County Circuit and Chancery Courts. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it.
This guide covers who makes arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Lakeland public records, Shelby County arrest records, Tennessee arrest records and Tennessee inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Lakeland
The FBI lists no arrest reporting agency under the name of Lakeland. In Shelby County the county agency that reports arrests is the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Shelby County: the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority and West Tennessee Violent Crime Task Force (other); Southwest Tennessee Community College, Christian Brothers University, the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee at Health Science Center (campus police).
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lakeland Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lakeland 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 4,000 people, down from about 4,760 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 5,136 beds, and it ran at 78 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Lakeland
For Lakeland the place to look is the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at shelbycountytn.gov/m/directory/department?did=508, phone (901) 222-1300).
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 Lakeland
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 Lakeland police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at lakelandtn.gov/421/Records-Requests (page title: Records Requests & Public Records Policy | Lakeland, TN), phone 901-867-2717, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney General, (901) 222-1300, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Shelby County guide covers every agency in the county: Shelby County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are people arrested in Lakeland booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lakeland?
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 Lakeland?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Shelby County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Tennessee Public Records Act the answer is due within 7 business days.
Is this the official Lakeland 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.