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.
Bradley County, Tennessee, has about 114,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Bradley County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and two campus, state or 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 Bradley 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: Bradley County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Bradley County
The Bradley County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Bradley County. It reported 3,091 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Bradley County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Cleveland, 50,232 residents: 2,372 arrests reported for 2025.
- Charleston, 910 residents: 15 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.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Bradley County: Drug Task Force's 10th Judicial District (other); Cleveland State Community College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Bradley 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.
- Bradley County Sheriff's Office: 3,091 for 2025, 2,832 for 2024, 2,672 for 2023, 3,516 for 2022, 3,531 for 2021 and 2,751 for 2020.
- Cleveland: 2,372 for 2025, 2,385 for 2024, 1,926 for 2023, 2,186 for 2022, 2,992 for 2021 and 3,278 for 2020.
- Charleston: 15 for 2025, 17 for 2024, 20 for 2023, 45 for 2022, 32 for 2021 and 28 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,478 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,478 in 2025 against 5,234 in 2024, up 4.7 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,757 arrests, against 3,592 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Bradley County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Bradley County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 490 people, down from about 540 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 510 beds, and it ran at 96 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Bradley County Sheriff's Office at bradleysheriff.com/booking-reports (page title: Booking Reports | BradleyCountySheriff), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Bradley County
An arrest in Bradley County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Bradley County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Bradley County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at bradleycountytn.gov/departments/courts); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-11/about).
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 Bradley 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 Bradley County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Cleveland or Charleston: 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 10th Judicial District or Cleveland State Community College: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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 Bradley County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at bradleycountytn.gov/departments/courts.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bradleysheriff.com/records-request (page title: Records Request | BradleyCountySheriff).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Bradley County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Bradley County: Cleveland and Charleston.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Bradley County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Bradley County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Cleveland (50,232)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Bradley County each year?
The Bradley County Sheriff's Office reported 3,091 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,478 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Bradley County?
Look on the custody page of the Bradley County Sheriff's Office at bradleysheriff.com/booking-reports. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Bradley County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bradley County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Bradley 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 Bradley County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Bradley 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 bradleysheriff.com/records-request.
Is this the official Bradley 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.