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 30, 2026.
Hawkins County, Tennessee, has about 59,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hawkins County Sheriff's Office and four 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 Hawkins 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: Hawkins County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hawkins County
The Hawkins County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hawkins County. It reported 1,110 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Hawkins County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Church Hill, 7,310 residents: 71 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mount Carmel, 5,549 residents: 53 arrests reported for 2025.
- Rogersville, 4,720 residents: 146 arrests reported for 2025.
- Surgoinsville, 1,930 residents: 5 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 Bean Station Police Department and the Kingsport Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Hawkins County, so their arrests are not broken out for Hawkins County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Hawkins 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.
- Hawkins County Sheriff's Office: 1,110 for 2025, 1,219 for 2024, 1,227 for 2023, 1,271 for 2022, 1,342 for 2021 and 1,444 for 2020.
- Rogersville: 146 for 2025, 167 for 2024, 191 for 2023, 254 for 2022, 167 for 2021 and 185 for 2020.
- Church Hill: 71 for 2025, 75 for 2023, 72 for 2022, 97 for 2021 and 124 for 2020; 2024 is missing months.
- Mount Carmel: 53 for 2025, 26 for 2023, 44 for 2022, 199 for 2021, 72 for 2020 and 60 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Surgoinsville: 5 for 2020 and 11 for 2019.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,380 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,256 in 2025 against 1,386 in 2024, down 9.4 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 698 arrests, against 837 in the same months of 2025.
Surgoinsville reported only part of 2025 (9 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hawkins County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hawkins 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 280 people, up from about 260 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 266 beds, and it ran at 104 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 Hawkins County
An arrest in Hawkins County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Hawkins County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at hawkinscountytn.gov/circuit_court_clerk.html, phone (423) 272-3397); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-3).
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 Hawkins 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 Hawkins County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Church Hill, Mount Carmel, Rogersville or Surgoinsville: 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 Hawkins County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at hawkinscountytn.gov/circuit_court_clerk.html, phone (423) 272-3397.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Hawkins County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the five cities in Hawkins County: Church Hill, Mount Carmel, Rogersville and Surgoinsville. Bulls Gap 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 Hawkins County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Hawkins County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Church Hill (7,310)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hawkins County each year?
The Hawkins County Sheriff's Office reported 1,110 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,380 between them.
Where are people arrested in Hawkins County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hawkins County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hawkins 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 Hawkins County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hawkins 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 Hawkins 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.