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 September 30, 2026.
Rutherford County, Tennessee, has about 377,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Rutherford 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 Rutherford 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: Rutherford County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Rutherford County
The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Rutherford County. It reported 5,617 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:
- Murfreesboro, 168,387 residents: 3,171 arrests reported for 2025.
- Smyrna, 60,302 residents: 2,082 arrests reported for 2025.
- La Vergne, 41,430 residents: 928 arrests reported for 2025.
- Eagleville, 966 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2020.
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 Rutherford County: Middle Tennessee State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Rutherford County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Rutherford County Sheriff's Office: 5,617 for 2025, 6,111 for 2024, 5,307 for 2023, 5,653 for 2022, 5,349 for 2021 and 5,409 for 2020.
- Murfreesboro: 3,171 for 2025, 3,025 for 2024, 2,834 for 2023, 3,185 for 2022, 3,662 for 2021 and 3,727 for 2020.
- Smyrna: 2,082 for 2025, 1,832 for 2024, 1,909 for 2023, 2,039 for 2022, 2,271 for 2021 and 2,518 for 2020.
- La Vergne: 928 for 2025, 1,310 for 2024, 1,400 for 2023, 1,161 for 2022, 1,062 for 2021 and 956 for 2020.
- Eagleville: 3 for 2020 and 1 for 2019.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 11,798 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 11,798 in 2025 against 12,278 in 2024, down 3.9 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 8,051 arrests, against 7,817 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Rutherford County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Rutherford 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 1,080 people, up from about 1,050 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 1,272 beds, and it ran at 85 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 Rutherford County Sheriff's Office at rcsotn.com (page title: Rutherford County, TN | Sheriff), 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 Rutherford County
An arrest in Rutherford County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Rutherford County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at rutherfordcountytn.gov/court-services); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-16).
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 Rutherford 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 Rutherford County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Murfreesboro, Smyrna, La Vergne or Eagleville: 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 Middle Tennessee State University: 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 Rutherford County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at rutherfordcountytn.gov/court-services.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at rutherfordcountytn.gov/openrecords (page title: Open Records | Rutherford County, TN).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Rutherford County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Rutherford County: Murfreesboro, Smyrna, La Vergne and Eagleville.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Rutherford County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Rutherford County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Rutherford County each year?
The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office reported 5,617 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 11,798 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Rutherford County?
Ask the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at rcsotn.com.
Where are people arrested in Rutherford County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Rutherford 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 Rutherford County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Rutherford 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 rutherfordcountytn.gov/openrecords.
Is this the official Rutherford 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.