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.
Roane County, Tennessee, has about 57,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Roane County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies 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 Roane 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: Roane County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Roane County
The Roane County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Roane County. It reported 1,383 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Roane County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Kingston, 6,340 residents: 86 arrests reported for 2025.
- Harriman, 6,216 residents: 194 arrests reported for 2024.
- Rockwood, 5,684 residents: 283 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 Oak Ridge Police Department and the Oliver Springs Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Roane County, so their arrests are not broken out for Roane County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Roane County: Drug Task Force's 9th Judicial District (other); Roane State Community College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Roane 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.
- Roane County Sheriff's Office: 1,383 for 2025, 1,315 for 2024, 1,491 for 2023, 1,567 for 2022, 1,580 for 2021 and 1,939 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Rockwood: 283 for 2025, 390 for 2024, 376 for 2023, 482 for 2022, 499 for 2021 and 558 for 2020.
- Kingston: 86 for 2025, 90 for 2023, 113 for 2022, 88 for 2021, 95 for 2020 and 132 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Harriman: 194 for 2024, 213 for 2023, 317 for 2022, 374 for 2021, 277 for 2020 and 330 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,752 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,666 in 2025 against 1,705 in 2024, down 2.3 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,104 arrests, against 1,254 in the same months of 2025.
Harriman reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Roane County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Roane 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 190 people, down from about 310 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 170 beds, and it ran at 109 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 Roane County Sheriff's Office at roanecountytn.gov/sheriffs-department-and-jail (page title: Sheriffs Department and Jail | Roane County Government), 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 Roane County
An arrest in Roane County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Roane County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at roanecourts.com, phone (865) 376-4458); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-9).
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 Roane 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 Roane County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Kingston, Harriman or Rockwood: 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 Drug Task Force's 9th Judicial District or Roane State Community College: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney General handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Roane County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at roanecourts.com, phone (865) 376-4458.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Roane County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the three cities in Roane County: Kingston, Harriman and Rockwood.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Roane County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Roane County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Rockwood (5,684)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Roane County each year?
The Roane County Sheriff's Office reported 1,383 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,752 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Roane County?
Ask the Roane County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at roanecountytn.gov.
Where are people arrested in Roane County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Roane County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Roane 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 Roane County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Roane 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 Roane 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.