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.
White County, Tennessee, has about 29,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the White 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 White 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: White County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in White County
The White County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for White County. It reported 139 arrests for 2025.
One city in White County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Sparta, 4,989 residents: 233 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 White 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.
- Sparta: 233 for 2025, 186 for 2024, 228 for 2023, 212 for 2022, 224 for 2021 and 263 for 2020.
- White County Sheriff's Office: 139 for 2025, 193 for 2024, 191 for 2022, 625 for 2021, 559 for 2020 and 810 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 372 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 372 in 2025 against 379 in 2024, down 1.8 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 299 arrests, against 215 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in White County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in White County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 110 people, down from about 190 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 165 beds, and it ran at 69 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 White County Sheriff's Office at wcsheriff-in.us (page title: White County Sheriff's Department), 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 White County
For White County the place to look is the case index of the White 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/9782405).
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 White 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 White County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Sparta: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the White County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/node/9782405.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in White County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in White County: Sparta. Doyle has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the White County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in White County each year?
Sparta reported 233 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 372 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in White County?
Ask the White County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at wcsheriff-in.us.
Where are people arrested in White County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the White County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in White 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 White County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the White 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 White 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.