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.
Van Buren County, Tennessee, has about 6,700 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Van Buren 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 Van Buren 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: Van Buren County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Van Buren County
The Van Buren County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Van Buren County. It reported 330 arrests for 2025.
One city in Van Buren County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Spencer, 1,590 residents: 43 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 Van Buren 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.
- Van Buren County Sheriff's Office: 330 for 2025, 287 for 2024, 172 for 2023, 93 for 2022, 125 for 2021 and 205 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Spencer: 43 for 2025, 40 for 2024, 31 for 2022, 85 for 2021, 67 for 2020 and 90 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 373 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 373 in 2025 against 327 in 2024, up 14 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 237 arrests, against 254 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Van Buren County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Van Buren 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 49 people, down from about 61 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 83 beds, and it ran at 59 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Van Buren County
An arrest in Van Buren County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Van Buren County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at tncourts.gov/node/9782400); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-31).
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 Van Buren 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 Van Buren County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Spencer: 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 handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Van Buren County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/node/9782400.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Van Buren County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Spencer, the one city in Van Buren County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Van Buren County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Van Buren County each year?
The Van Buren County Sheriff's Office reported 330 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 373 between them.
Where are people arrested in Van Buren County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Van Buren 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 Van Buren County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Van Buren 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 Van Buren 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.