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 between September 23, 2026 and September 28, 2026.
Blount County, Tennessee, has about 142,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Blount County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and two other 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 Blount 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: Blount County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Blount County
The Blount County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Blount County. It reported 2,665 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside three 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:
- Maryville, 32,373 residents: 600 arrests reported for 2025.
- Alcoa, 13,588 residents: 693 arrests reported for 2025.
- Townsend, 628 residents: 12 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.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Blount County: Drug Task Force's 5th Judicial District and Knoxville Metropolitan Airport (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Blount 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.
- Blount County Sheriff's Office: 2,665 for 2025, 2,853 for 2024, 2,958 for 2023, 2,965 for 2022, 3,297 for 2021 and 3,008 for 2020.
- Alcoa: 693 for 2025, 712 for 2024, 648 for 2023, 712 for 2022, 1,288 for 2021 and 1,674 for 2020.
- Maryville: 600 for 2025, 659 for 2024, 880 for 2023, 762 for 2022, 799 for 2021 and 828 for 2020.
- Townsend: 12 for 2022, 20 for 2020 and 22 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,958 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,958 in 2025 against 4,224 in 2024, down 6.3 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,575 arrests, against 2,770 in the same months of 2025.
Townsend reported only part of 2025 (9 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Blount County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Blount 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 340 people, down from about 610 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 350 beds, and it ran at 98 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 Blount County Sheriff's Office at ils.bcso.com (page title: InmateNOW!), phone (865)273-5000, 123 Main St Somewhere, TN 12345, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 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 Blount County
An arrest in Blount County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Blount County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at blounttn.gov/2156/Online-Court-Records-Search); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at blounttn.gov/315/District-Attorney-General, phone 865-273-5600).
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 Blount County
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 Blount County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (865)273-5000.
- An arrest in Maryville, Alcoa or Townsend: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Drug Task Force's 5th Judicial District or Knoxville Metropolitan Airport: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney General, 865-273-5600, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Blount County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at blounttn.gov/2156/Online-Court-Records-Search.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at blounttn.gov (page title: Circuit Court Public Records Request & Policy | Blount County, TN).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Blount County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the six cities in Blount County: Maryville, Alcoa and Townsend. Louisville, Friendsville and Rockford 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 Blount County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Blount County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Blount County each year?
The Blount County Sheriff's Office reported 2,665 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,958 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Blount County?
Ask the Blount County Sheriff's Office at (865)273-5000; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at ils.bcso.com.
Where are people arrested in Blount County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Blount County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Blount 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 Blount County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Blount 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at blounttn.gov.
Is this the official Blount 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.