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.
McMinn County, Tennessee, has about 57,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the McMinn County Sheriff's Office and five 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 McMinn 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: McMinn County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in McMinn County
The McMinn County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for McMinn County. It reported 396 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in McMinn County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Athens, 15,050 residents: 887 arrests reported for 2025.
- Etowah, 3,742 residents: 101 arrests reported for 2025.
- Englewood, 1,590 residents: 24 arrests reported for 2024.
- Niota, 821 residents: 12 arrests reported for 2025.
- Calhoun, 562 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 Sweetwater Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including McMinn County, so its arrests are not broken out for McMinn County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in McMinn 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.
- Athens: 887 for 2025, 877 for 2024, 1,057 for 2023, 1,173 for 2022, 1,236 for 2021 and 1,153 for 2020.
- McMinn County Sheriff's Office: 396 for 2025, 685 for 2024, 682 for 2023, 592 for 2022, 733 for 2021 and 548 for 2020.
- Etowah: 101 for 2025, 203 for 2024, 146 for 2023, 238 for 2022, 347 for 2021 and 250 for 2020.
- Niota: 12 for 2025, 4 for 2021, 15 for 2020 and 17 for 2019; 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Englewood: 24 for 2024, 33 for 2023, 57 for 2022, 66 for 2021, 24 for 2020 and 50 for 2019.
- Calhoun: 5 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,396 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 988 in 2025 against 1,080 in 2024, down 8.5 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 919 arrests, against 948 in the same months of 2025.
Calhoun and Englewood reported only part of 2025 (4 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in McMinn County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in McMinn 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 300 people, down from about 370 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 348 beds, and it ran at 86 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 McMinn County Sheriff's Office at mcminncountytn.gov/sheriffs_dept.html (page title: McMinn County, TN), phone (423) 745-5620, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 McMinn County
Whether someone was arrested in McMinn County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the McMinn County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at mcminncountytn.gov/circuit_court_clerk.html, phone (423) 745-1923); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-10, phone (931)962-1144).
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 McMinn 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 McMinn County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (423) 745-5620.
- An arrest in Athens, Etowah, Englewood, Niota or Calhoun: 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, (931)962-1144, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the McMinn County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at mcminncountytn.gov/circuit_court_clerk.html, phone (423) 745-1923.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in McMinn County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the five cities in McMinn County: Athens, Etowah, Englewood, Niota and Calhoun.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the McMinn County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in McMinn County each year?
Athens reported 887 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,396 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in McMinn County?
Ask the McMinn County Sheriff's Office at (423) 745-5620; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at mcminncountytn.gov/sheriffs_dept.html.
Where are people arrested in McMinn County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the McMinn County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in McMinn 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 McMinn County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the McMinn 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 McMinn 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.