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.
Davidson County, Tennessee, has about 730,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by four city agencies and nine 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 Davidson 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: Davidson County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Davidson County
The Davidson County Sheriff - Active Inmate Search is the county law enforcement agency of Davidson County.
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:
- Goodlettsville, 17,433 residents: 312 arrests reported for 2025.
- Belle Meade, 2,590 residents: 21 arrests reported for 2025.
- Berry Hill, 1,838 residents: 81 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 Davidson County: the Metropolitan Nashville Park Police and Nashville International Airport (other); the Wildlife Resources Agency's Region 2, the Department of Correction, Internal Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Crime Unit and Tennessee Board of Regents (state agency); Tennessee State University, Nashville State Community College and Vanderbilt University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Davidson 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.
- Metropolitan Nashville: 20,432 for 2025, 19,636 for 2024, 17,901 for 2023, 14,398 for 2022, 14,166 for 2021 and 13,966 for 2020.
- Goodlettsville: 312 for 2025, 265 for 2024, 387 for 2023, 386 for 2022, 720 for 2021 and 687 for 2020.
- Berry Hill: 81 for 2025, 112 for 2024, 96 for 2023, 45 for 2022, 60 for 2021 and 49 for 2020.
- Belle Meade: 21 for 2025, 9 for 2024, 41 for 2023, 44 for 2022, 44 for 2021 and 45 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 20,846 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 20,846 in 2025 against 20,022 in 2024, up 4.1 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 14,011 arrests, against 14,092 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Davidson County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Davidson 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 2,270 people, down from about 2,860 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 2,628 beds, and it ran at 86 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 Davidson County Sheriff - Active Inmate Search at dcso.nashville.gov/Search/RecentBookings (page title: Davidson County Sheriff | Active Inmate Search), phone 615-862-8123, 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 person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Tennessee Department of Correction, whose inmate locator is at foil.app.tn.gov/foil/search.jsp.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Davidson County
An arrest in Davidson County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Davidson County Sheriff - Active Inmate Search described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Davidson County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sci.ccc.nashville.gov, phone 615.862.5601); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at da.nashville.gov, phone 888-277-8366).
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 Davidson 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 Davidson County Sheriff - Active Inmate Search: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 615-862-8123.
- An arrest in Goodlettsville, Belle Meade or Berry Hill: 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 the Metropolitan Nashville Park Police, Nashville International Airport or the Wildlife Resources Agency's Region 2: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney General, 888-277-8366, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Davidson County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at sci.ccc.nashville.gov, phone 615.862.5601.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sheriff.nashville.gov (page title: Inmate and Other Public Records Requests | Davidson County Sheriff | Nashville Tennessee).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Davidson County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the five cities in Davidson County: Goodlettsville, Belle Meade and Berry Hill. Oak Hill and Forest Hills have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department as a city agency in Davidson County; Metropolitan Nashville is not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Davidson County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Davidson County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Goodlettsville (17,433)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Davidson County each year?
Metropolitan Nashville reported 20,432 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 20,846 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Davidson County?
Look on the custody page of the Davidson County Sheriff - Active Inmate Search at dcso.nashville.gov/Search/RecentBookings, or call 615-862-8123. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Davidson County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Davidson County Sheriff - Active Inmate Search; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Davidson 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 Davidson County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Davidson County Sheriff - Active Inmate Search 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 sheriff.nashville.gov.
Is this the official Davidson 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.