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 October 9, 2026.
Jefferson County, Tennessee, has about 59,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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: Jefferson County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Jefferson County
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Jefferson County. It reported 1,348 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Jefferson County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Jefferson City, 9,013 residents: 507 arrests reported for 2025.
- Dandridge, 3,841 residents: 181 arrests reported for 2025.
- White Pine, 2,584 residents: 102 arrests reported for 2025.
- New Market, 1,416 residents: 14 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 Morristown Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Jefferson County, so its arrests are not broken out for Jefferson County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Jefferson 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.
- Jefferson County Sheriff's Office: 1,348 for 2025, 1,388 for 2024, 1,447 for 2023, 1,585 for 2022, 1,795 for 2021 and 1,539 for 2020.
- Jefferson City: 507 for 2025, 727 for 2024, 374 for 2023, 522 for 2022, 673 for 2021 and 646 for 2020.
- Dandridge: 181 for 2025, 185 for 2024, 182 for 2023, 165 for 2022, 160 for 2021 and 215 for 2020.
- White Pine: 102 for 2025, 115 for 2024, 98 for 2023, 119 for 2022, 149 for 2021 and 153 for 2020.
- New Market: 14 for 2025, 90 for 2022, 87 for 2021 and 38 for 2020; 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,152 arrests that year. The four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,138 in 2025 against 2,415 in 2024, down 11 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,368 arrests, against 1,487 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Jefferson County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Jefferson 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 170 people, down from about 270 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 237 beds, and it ran at 70 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at jeffersoncountytn.gov/sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Jefferson County Government), phone 865-397-9411, 765 Justice Center Drive Dandridge, TN 37725, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
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 Jefferson County
For Jefferson County the place to look is 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 865-397-9411.
- An arrest in Jefferson City, Dandridge, White Pine or New Market: 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.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Jefferson County guides go further: police reports and property records.
Cities in Jefferson County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the five cities in Jefferson County: Jefferson City, Dandridge, White Pine and New Market. Baneberry 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 Jefferson County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Jefferson County each year?
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office reported 1,348 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,152 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Jefferson County?
Ask the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at 865-397-9411; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at jeffersoncountytn.gov/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Jefferson County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Jefferson 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 Jefferson County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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.