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.
Putnam County, Tennessee, has about 85,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and one campus 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 Putnam 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: Putnam County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Putnam County
The Putnam County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Putnam County. It reported 703 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside four of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Cookeville, 37,102 residents: 1,339 arrests reported for 2025.
- Algood, 4,104 residents: 49 arrests reported for 2025.
- Monterey, 2,796 residents: 136 arrests reported for 2025.
- Baxter, 2,051 residents: 45 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 one more agency in Putnam County: Tennessee Technological University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Putnam 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.
- Cookeville: 1,339 for 2025, 1,139 for 2024, 952 for 2023, 1,322 for 2022, 1,619 for 2021 and 1,388 for 2020.
- Putnam County Sheriff's Office: 703 for 2025, 772 for 2024, 857 for 2023, 1,006 for 2022, 789 for 2021 and 833 for 2020.
- Monterey: 136 for 2025, 74 for 2024, 111 for 2023, 111 for 2022, 159 for 2021 and 150 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Algood: 49 for 2025, 64 for 2024, 78 for 2023, 101 for 2022, 314 for 2021 and 169 for 2020.
- Baxter: 45 for 2025, 82 for 2024, 66 for 2023, 50 for 2022, 106 for 2021 and 72 for 2020.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,272 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,272 in 2025 against 2,131 in 2024, up 6.6 percent.
Through March 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 542 arrests, against 477 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Putnam County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Putnam 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 220 people, down from about 400 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 252 beds, and it ran at 86 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 Putnam County
For Putnam County the place to look is the case index of the Putnam County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at putnamcountytn.gov/clerk-and-master, phone (931) 526-6321).
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 Putnam 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 Putnam County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Cookeville, Algood, Monterey or Baxter: 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 Tennessee Technological University: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Putnam County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at putnamcountytn.gov/clerk-and-master, phone (931) 526-6321.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Putnam County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Putnam County: Cookeville, Algood, Monterey and Baxter.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Putnam County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Putnam County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Cookeville (37,102)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Putnam County each year?
Cookeville reported 1,339 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,272 between them.
Where are people arrested in Putnam County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Putnam County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Putnam 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 Putnam County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Putnam 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 Putnam 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.