Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 25, 2026.
Abilene, Texas, in Taylor County, has about 131,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city 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 files charges, a case in the Taylor County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Abilene public records, Taylor County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Abilene
The FBI lists Abilene with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Abilene Police Department. It reported 3,184 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Taylor County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 184 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Taylor County: Abilene Christian University and Hardin-Simmons University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Abilene Reports
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.
- Abilene: 3,184 for 2025, 2,950 for 2024, 3,329 for 2023, 3,210 for 2022, 2,207 for 2021 and 2,809 for 2020.
Abilene's 3,184 arrests in 2025 were up 7.9 percent from 2,950 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Abilene reported 2,267 arrests, against 2,132 in the same months of 2025.
Across Taylor County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,399 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Abilene Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Abilene 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 680 people on an average day, down from about 710 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 874 beds, and it is running at 77 percent of it. 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 Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists its inmates at inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/start.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Abilene
Texas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3 a search, through the Texas Department of Public Safety. 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 Abilene
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Texas Public Information Act the agency must answer within 10 business days, and it may charge the copy rates set by the Attorney General, plus labor for large requests.
- An arrest by the Abilene police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at abilenetx.gov/348/Public-Information-Request (page title: Public Information Request | Abilene, TX), 555 Walnut Street Abilene, TX 79601, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Taylor County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at taylortx.gov/33/Open-Records (page title: Open Records | Taylor, TX).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Taylor County guide covers every agency in the county: Taylor County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Abilene each year?
Abilene reported 3,184 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Abilene booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Taylor County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Abilene?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Texas Public Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Abilene?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Abilene police for its own arrests, the Taylor County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Texas Public Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at taylortx.gov/33/Open-Records.
Is this the official Abilene website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.