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.
Cocke County, Tennessee, has about 38,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cocke County Sheriff's Office and one city agency. 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 Cocke 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: Cocke County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Cocke County
The Cocke County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cocke County. It reported 759 arrests for 2025.
One city in Cocke County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Newport, 6,954 residents: 343 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 Cocke County
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.
- Cocke County Sheriff's Office: 759 for 2025, 897 for 2024, 899 for 2023, 1,014 for 2022, 1,335 for 2021 and 1,207 for 2020.
- Newport: 343 for 2025, 379 for 2024, 548 for 2023, 560 for 2022, 1,204 for 2021 and 955 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,102 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,102 in 2025 against 1,276 in 2024, down 14 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 690 arrests, against 773 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cocke County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Cocke 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 110 people, down from about 200 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 120 beds, and it ran at 95 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 Cocke County
Whether someone was arrested in Cocke County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Cocke County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at cockecountytn.gov/circuit-court-clerk, phone 423-623-6004); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-4).
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 Cocke 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 Cocke County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Newport: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- 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 Cocke County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at cockecountytn.gov/circuit-court-clerk, phone 423-623-6004.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Cocke County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Cocke County: Newport. Parrottsville has 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 Cocke County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Cocke County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Newport (6,954)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cocke County each year?
The Cocke County Sheriff's Office reported 759 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,102 between them.
Where are people arrested in Cocke County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cocke County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cocke 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 Cocke County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cocke 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 Cocke 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.