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 26, 2026.
Ripley, Tennessee, in Lauderdale County, has about 7,500 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 Lauderdale 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: Ripley public records, Lauderdale County arrest records, Tennessee arrest records and Tennessee inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Ripley
The FBI lists Ripley with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Ripley Police Department. It reported 195 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 Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 665 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Ripley 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.
- Ripley: 195 for 2025, 228 for 2024, 203 for 2023, 197 for 2022, 185 for 2021 and 195 for 2020.
Ripley's 195 arrests in 2025 were down 14 percent from 228 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Ripley reported 105 arrests, against 130 in the same months of 2025.
Across Lauderdale County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 926 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ripley Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Ripley 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 86 people, down from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 144 beds, and it ran at 60 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 Ripley
An arrest in Ripley can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Lauderdale 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/9782360); 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 Ripley
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 Ripley police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at cityofripleytn.com/police.html (page title: Ripley, TN), phone (731) 635-1515, 110 South Washington Street Ripley, TN 38063, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/node/9782360.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Lauderdale County guide covers every agency in the county: Lauderdale County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ripley each year?
Ripley reported 195 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Ripley booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ripley?
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 Ripley?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ripley police for its own arrests, the Lauderdale 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 Ripley 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.