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.
Decatur County, Tennessee, has about 12,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Decatur 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 Decatur 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: Decatur County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Decatur County
The Decatur County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Decatur County. It reported 268 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Parsons, 2,159 residents: 33 arrests reported for 2025.
- Decaturville, 816 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2020.
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 Scotts Hill Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Decatur County, so its arrests are not broken out for Decatur County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Decatur 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.
- Decatur County Sheriff's Office: 268 for 2025, 274 for 2024, 287 for 2023, 366 for 2022, 421 for 2021 and 559 for 2020.
- Parsons: 33 for 2025, 61 for 2024, 30 for 2023, 46 for 2022, 47 for 2021 and 38 for 2020.
- Decaturville: 8 for 2020 and 16 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 301 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 301 in 2025 against 335 in 2024, down 10 percent.
Through September 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 206 arrests, against 244 in the same months of 2025.
Decaturville reported only part of 2025 (4 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Decatur County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Decatur 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 48 people, down from about 53 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 60 beds, and it ran at 79 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 Decatur County
An arrest in Decatur County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Decatur County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at tncourts.gov/node/9779784); 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 Decatur 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 Decatur County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Parsons or Decaturville: 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 Decatur County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/node/9779784.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Decatur County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Decatur County: Parsons and Decaturville.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Decatur County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Decatur County each year?
The Decatur County Sheriff's Office reported 268 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 301 between them.
Where are people arrested in Decatur County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Decatur County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Decatur 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 Decatur County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Decatur 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 Decatur 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.