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 4, 2026.
Lake County, Tennessee, has about 6,400 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lake 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 Lake 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: Lake County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lake County
The Lake County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lake County. It reported 95 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
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:
- Tiptonville, 3,425 residents: 92 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ridgely, 1,666 residents: 30 arrests reported for 2023.
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 Lake 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.
- Tiptonville: 92 for 2025, 124 for 2024, 118 for 2023, 153 for 2022, 96 for 2021 and 146 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Lake County Sheriff's Office: 95 for 2024, 75 for 2022, 74 for 2020 and 103 for 2019; 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Ridgely: 30 for 2023, 73 for 2020 and 48 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 219 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 124 in 2024 against 118 in 2023, up 5.1 percent.
Ridgely reported only part of 2024 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lake County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lake County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 30 people, down from about 46 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 40 beds, and it ran at 74 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 Lake County Sheriff's Office at lakecountytn.gov/government/departments/sheriffs-department (page title: Sheriff's Department | Lake County, TN Government), phone (731) 253-7791, 109 S Court St. Tiptonville, TN 38079, Monday - Friday 8:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
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 Lake County
An arrest in Lake County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Lake County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountytn.gov/government/courts/circuit, phone (731) 253-7137); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-29).
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 Lake 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 Lake County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (731) 253-7791.
- An arrest in Tiptonville or Ridgely: 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 Lake County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at lakecountytn.gov/government/courts/circuit, phone (731) 253-7137.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Lake County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Lake County: Tiptonville and Ridgely.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Lake County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lake County each year?
Tiptonville reported 92 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Lake County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 219 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lake County?
Ask the Lake County Sheriff's Office at (731) 253-7791; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountytn.gov.
Where are people arrested in Lake County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lake County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lake 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 Lake County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lake 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 Lake 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.