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.
Lawrence County, Tennessee, has about 46,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and one other 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 Lawrence 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: Lawrence County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lawrence County
The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lawrence County. It reported 1,207 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists four cities in Lawrence County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Lawrenceburg, 12,112 residents: 258 arrests reported for 2024.
- Loretto, 1,813 residents: 14 arrests reported for 2023.
- St. Joseph, 820 residents: 17 arrests reported for 2020.
- Ethridge, 561 residents: 7 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 FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Lawrence County: Drug Task Force's 22nd Judicial District (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lawrence 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.
- Lawrence County Sheriff's Office: 1,207 for 2024, 995 for 2023, 1,015 for 2022, 1,042 for 2021, 991 for 2020 and 1,959 for 2019.
- Lawrenceburg: 258 for 2024, 347 for 2023, 339 for 2022, 462 for 2020 and 684 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Loretto: 14 for 2023, 13 for 2022, 22 for 2020 and 41 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- St. Joseph: 17 for 2020 and 20 for 2019.
- Ethridge: 7 for 2020 and 11 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 1,356 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2023 and 2022 complete reported 1,356 in 2023 against 1,367 in 2022, down 0.8 percent.
St. Joseph and Ethridge reported only part of 2023 (9 months and 8 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lawrence County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lawrence 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 180 people, down from about 310 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 261 beds, and it ran at 68 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 Lawrence County Sheriff's Office at lawrencecountytn.gov/government/departments/sheriffs-department (page title: Sheriff’s Department | Lawrence County TN, Government), phone 931-762-3626, 240 West Gaines St. Lawrenceburg, TN 38464, Monday - Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 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 Lawrence County
Whether someone was arrested in Lawrence County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Lawrence 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/9782361); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-22).
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 Lawrence 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 Lawrence County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 931-762-3626.
- An arrest in Lawrenceburg, Loretto, St. Joseph or Ethridge: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Drug Task Force's 22nd Judicial District: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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 Lawrence County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/node/9782361.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Lawrence County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Lawrence County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Lawrence County: Lawrenceburg, Loretto, St. Joseph and Ethridge.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Lawrence County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lawrence County each year?
The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office reported 1,207 arrests to the FBI for 2024. For 2023, the latest year most of the agencies in Lawrence County sent in full, the three with every month on file reported 1,356 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lawrence County?
Ask the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office at 931-762-3626; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lawrencecountytn.gov.
Where are people arrested in Lawrence County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lawrence 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 Lawrence County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lawrence 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 Lawrence 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.