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 between September 23, 2026 and October 1, 2026.
Alvarado, Texas, in Johnson County, has about 7,300 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 Johnson 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: Alvarado public records, Johnson County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Alvarado
The FBI lists Alvarado with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Alvarado Police Department. It reported 358 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 Johnson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 777 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Johnson County: the Johnson County Constable's Precincts 1, 4, 3 and 2, the Keene Independent School District, the Joshua Independent School District and the Vensus Independent School District (other).
How Many Arrests Alvarado 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.
- Alvarado: 358 for 2025, 251 for 2022, 191 for 2021, 238 for 2020 and 484 for 2019; 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Through August 2026, Alvarado reported 275 arrests, against 199 in the same months of 2025.
Across Johnson County, the eight agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,935 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Alvarado Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Alvarado 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 860 people on an average day, up from about 800 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 1,100 beds, and it is running at 78 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Johnson County Sheriff's Office at jcportal.johnsoncountytx.org/jail (page title: Inmate Listing), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, whose inmate locator is at inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/start.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Alvarado
An arrest in Alvarado can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Johnson County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Johnson County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at johnsoncountytx.org/government/county-clerk/online-records); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at johnsoncountytx.org/government/district-attorney, phone (817) 556-6802).
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 Alvarado
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 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 Alvarado police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at cityofalvarado.org/162/Police (page title: Police | Alvarado, TX), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (817) 556-6802, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Johnson County District Court, through the court records page at johnsoncountytx.org.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Johnson County guide covers every agency in the county: Johnson County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Alvarado each year?
Alvarado reported 358 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Alvarado?
Look on the custody page of the Johnson County Sheriff's Office at jcportal.johnsoncountytx.org/jail. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Alvarado booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Alvarado?
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 Alvarado?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Alvarado police for its own arrests, the Johnson County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Texas Public Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Alvarado 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.