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 2, 2026.
Monroe County, Tennessee, has about 49,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Monroe 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 Monroe 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: Monroe County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Monroe County
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Monroe County. It reported 726 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Monroe County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Sweetwater, 6,676 residents: 228 arrests reported for 2025.
- Madisonville, 5,395 residents: 257 arrests reported for 2025.
- Vonore, 1,684 residents: 75 arrests reported for 2025.
- Tellico Plains, 781 residents: 21 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 Monroe 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.
- Monroe County Sheriff's Office: 726 for 2025, 1,034 for 2024, 729 for 2023, 806 for 2022, 668 for 2021 and 822 for 2020.
- Madisonville: 257 for 2025, 284 for 2024, 393 for 2023, 414 for 2022, 381 for 2020 and 394 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Sweetwater: 228 for 2025, 285 for 2024, 354 for 2023, 447 for 2022, 377 for 2020 and 647 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Vonore: 75 for 2025, 102 for 2024, 100 for 2023, 102 for 2022, 82 for 2021 and 92 for 2020.
- Tellico Plains: 21 for 2025, 32 for 2024, 56 for 2023, 49 for 2020 and 64 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,307 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,307 in 2025 against 1,737 in 2024, down 25 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 619 arrests, against 931 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Monroe County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Monroe 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 300 people, up from about 280 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 364 beds, and it ran at 83 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 Monroe County
For Monroe 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-10).
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 Monroe 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 Monroe County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Sweetwater, Madisonville, Vonore or Tellico Plains: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney General handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at monroetnsheriff.com/public-records-request (page title: Monroe County Tennessee Sheriff's Office is under construction).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Monroe County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Monroe County: Sweetwater, Madisonville, Vonore and Tellico Plains.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Monroe County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Monroe County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Sweetwater (6,676)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Monroe County each year?
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office reported 726 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,307 between them.
Where are people arrested in Monroe County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Monroe 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 Monroe County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Monroe 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at monroetnsheriff.com/public-records-request.
Is this the official Monroe 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.