Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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 on September 23, 2026.
Bedford County, Tennessee, has about 54,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Bedford County Sheriff's Office and two city agencies. An arrest 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 Bedford County Circuit and Chancery Courts. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Bedford County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Bedford County
The Bedford County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Bedford County. It reported 1,457 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Shelbyville, 25,792 residents: 892 arrests reported for 2025.
- Wartrace, 670 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Bedford County
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.
- Bedford County Sheriff's Office: 1,457 for 2025, 1,156 for 2024, 1,456 for 2023, 1,243 for 2022, 1,194 for 2021 and 917 for 2020.
- Shelbyville: 892 for 2025, 968 for 2024, 1,111 for 2023, 1,031 for 2022, 1,215 for 2021 and 1,137 for 2020.
- Wartrace: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2020 and 1 for 2019; 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,349 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,349 in 2025 against 2,124 in 2024, up 11 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,175 arrests, against 1,366 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Bedford County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Bedford County 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 300 people, up from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 399 beds, and it ran at 75 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 Bedford County Sheriff's Office at bedfordcountytn.gov/departments/sheriff_office.php (page title: Welcome to Bedford County), phone (931) 684-3232, 110 Northcreek Drive, Shelbyville TN 37160, Monday thru Friday from 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, 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 Bedford County
Whether someone was arrested in Bedford County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Bedford County Circuit and Chancery Courts, kept by the Circuit Court Clerk and the Clerk and Master, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-17).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at bedfordcounty.tennesseecourt.us (page title: Bedford County Court | Case Lookup), phone (931) 684-3223, belongs to a lower court, not to the Bedford County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
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 Bedford County
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 Bedford County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (931) 684-3232.
- An arrest in Shelbyville or Wartrace: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- 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: in the Bedford County Circuit and Chancery Courts it is kept by the Circuit Court Clerk and the Clerk and Master. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at bedfordcounty.tennesseecourt.us, phone (931) 684-3223, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Bedford County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the four cities in Bedford County: Shelbyville and Wartrace. Bell Buckle and Normandy have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Bedford County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Bedford County each year?
The Bedford County Sheriff's Office reported 1,457 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,349 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Bedford County?
Ask the Bedford County Sheriff's Office at (931) 684-3232; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at bedfordcountytn.gov.
Where are people arrested in Bedford County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bedford County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Bedford County?
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 Bedford County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Bedford 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 Bedford County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.