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.
Overton County, Tennessee, has about 24,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Overton County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Overton 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: Overton County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Overton County
The Overton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Overton County. It reported 376 arrests for 2025.
One city in Overton County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Livingston, 4,100 residents: 228 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 Overton 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.
- Overton County Sheriff's Office: 376 for 2025, 479 for 2024, 511 for 2023, 486 for 2022 and 289 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Livingston: 228 for 2025, 204 for 2024, 199 for 2023, 190 for 2022, 199 for 2021 and 256 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 604 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 604 in 2025 against 683 in 2024, down 12 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 305 arrests, against 441 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Overton County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Overton 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 110 people, down from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 143 beds, and it ran at 79 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 Overton County Sheriff's Office at overtonsheriff.com/jailinfo.php (page title: Overton County Sheriff's Department | Overton County Jail Info), phone (931) 823-5635, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Overton County
An arrest in Overton County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Overton County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at tn.gov/revenue/title-and-registration/county-clerks-locations.html, phone (865) 457-6226); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-13, phone 931-528-8598).
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 Overton 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 Overton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (931) 823-5635.
- An arrest in Livingston: 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, 931-528-8598, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Overton County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tn.gov, phone (865) 457-6226.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Overton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Livingston, the one city in Overton County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Overton County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Overton County each year?
The Overton County Sheriff's Office reported 376 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 604 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Overton County?
Ask the Overton County Sheriff's Office at (931) 823-5635; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at overtonsheriff.com/jailinfo.php.
Where are people arrested in Overton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Overton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Overton 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 Overton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Overton 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 Overton 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.