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.
Johnson County, Tennessee, has about 19,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Johnson 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 Johnson 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: Johnson County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Johnson County
The Johnson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Johnson County. It reported 516 arrests for 2025.
One city in Johnson County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Mountain City, 2,486 residents: 77 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 Johnson 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.
- Johnson County Sheriff's Office: 516 for 2025, 434 for 2024, 452 for 2023, 441 for 2022, 521 for 2021 and 609 for 2020.
- Mountain City: 77 for 2025, 49 for 2024, 46 for 2023, 95 for 2022, 106 for 2021 and 54 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 593 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 593 in 2025 against 483 in 2024, up 23 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 349 arrests, against 375 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Johnson County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Johnson 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 110 people, down from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 114 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 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 Johnson County
For Johnson 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-1).
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 Johnson 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 Johnson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Mountain City: 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.
Cities in Johnson County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Mountain City, the one city in Johnson County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Johnson County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Johnson County each year?
The Johnson County Sheriff's Office reported 516 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 593 between them.
Where are people arrested in Johnson County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Johnson 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 Johnson County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Johnson 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 Johnson 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.