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.
Benton County, Tennessee, has about 16,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Benton 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 Benton 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: Benton County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Benton County
The Benton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Benton County. It reported 225 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Benton County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Camden, 3,692 residents: 88 arrests reported for 2025.
- Big Sandy, 497 residents: 51 arrests reported for 2022.
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 Benton 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.
- Benton County Sheriff's Office: 225 for 2025, 305 for 2024, 356 for 2023, 415 for 2022, 410 for 2021 and 473 for 2020.
- Camden: 88 for 2025, 103 for 2024, 77 for 2023, 41 for 2022, 12 for 2021 and 29 for 2020.
- Big Sandy: 51 for 2022, 36 for 2020 and 43 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 313 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 313 in 2025 against 408 in 2024, down 23 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 208 arrests, against 227 in the same months of 2025.
Big Sandy reported only part of 2025 (7 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Benton County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Benton 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 66 people, down from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 140 beds, and it ran at 47 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 Benton County Sheriff's Office at bentoncountytn.gov/sheriff.html (page title: Benton County, TN), phone (731) 584-8963, 116 Rosemary Avenue | PO Box 56 Camden, TN 38320, 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 Benton County
An arrest in Benton County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Benton County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at bentoncountytn.gov/circuit_court_clerk.html, phone (731) 584-6711); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-24/our-staff).
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 Benton 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 Benton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (731) 584-8963.
- An arrest in Camden or Big Sandy: 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: the Benton County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at bentoncountytn.gov/circuit_court_clerk.html, phone (731) 584-6711.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Benton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Benton County: Camden and Big Sandy.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Benton County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Benton County each year?
The Benton County Sheriff's Office reported 225 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 313 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Benton County?
Ask the Benton County Sheriff's Office at (731) 584-8963; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at bentoncountytn.gov/sheriff.html.
Where are people arrested in Benton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Benton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Benton 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 Benton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Benton 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 Benton 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.