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.
Montgomery County, Tennessee, has about 246,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and two campus, state or other 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 Montgomery 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: Montgomery County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Montgomery County
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Montgomery County. It reported 2,308 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Montgomery County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Clarksville, 185,690 residents: 4,391 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.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Montgomery County: Austin Peay State University (campus police); Drug Task Force's 19th Judicial District (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Montgomery 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.
- Clarksville: 4,391 for 2025, 5,558 for 2024, 5,342 for 2023, 5,081 for 2022, 6,650 for 2021 and 6,799 for 2020.
- Montgomery County Sheriff's Office: 2,308 for 2025, 2,317 for 2024, 2,224 for 2023, 1,618 for 2022, 2,099 for 2021 and 1,822 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 6,699 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 6,699 in 2025 against 7,875 in 2024, down 15 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,846 arrests, against 4,685 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Montgomery County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Montgomery 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 450 people, down from about 580 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 880 beds, and it ran at 51 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 Montgomery County Sheriff's Office at montgomerytn.gov/sheriff/jail-and-inmate-services (page title: Montgomery County, TN), phone 931-648-0611, 120 Commerce Street Clarksville, TN 37040, 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 Montgomery County
Whether someone was arrested in Montgomery County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Montgomery County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at montgomerytn.gov/circuit/online-court-records, phone 931-648-5700); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at montgomerytn.gov/court/district-attorney, phone 931-648-5574).
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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 931-648-0611.
- An arrest in Clarksville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Austin Peay State University or Drug Task Force's 19th 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, 931-648-5574, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Montgomery County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at montgomerytn.gov/circuit/online-court-records, phone 931-648-5700.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Montgomery County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Clarksville, the one city in Montgomery County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Montgomery County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Montgomery County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Clarksville (185,690)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Montgomery County each year?
Clarksville reported 4,391 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 6,699 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Montgomery County?
Ask the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office at 931-648-0611; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at montgomerytn.gov.
Where are people arrested in Montgomery County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Montgomery 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 Montgomery County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Montgomery 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 Montgomery 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.