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 2024. 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 25, 2026.
Belton, Texas, in Bell County, has about 26,000 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 Bell 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: Belton public records, Bell County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Belton
The FBI lists Belton with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Belton Police Department. It reported 1,116 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year. 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 Bell County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 616 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Bell County: Texas A&M University at Central Texas, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Central Texas College (campus police); the Salado Independent School District and the Killeen Independent School District (other).
How Many Arrests Belton Reports
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.
- Belton: 1,116 for 2024, 1,081 for 2023, 967 for 2022, 956 for 2021, 1,367 for 2020 and 1,639 for 2019.
Belton's 1,116 arrests in 2024 were up 3.2 percent from 1,081 in 2023.
Across Bell County, the ten agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 8,459 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Belton Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Belton 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 1,220 people on an average day, up from about 870 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 1,955 beds, and it is running at 62 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 Belton
An arrest in Belton can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Bell County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at bellcountytx.com/how_do_i/search_court_hearings_and_court_records.php, phone (254) 933-5161); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at bellcountytx.com/county_government/district_attorney/index.php, phone (254) 933-5215).
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 Belton
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 Belton police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at beltontexas.gov/departments/police_department/reports.php (page title: Reports), phone 254-933-5840, 711 E. 2nd Avenue P.O. Box 120 Belton, TX 76513, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Bell County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (254) 933-5215, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Bell County District Court, through the court records page at bellcountytx.com, phone (254) 933-5161.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Bell County guide covers every agency in the county: Bell County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Belton each year?
Belton reported 1,116 arrests to the FBI for 2024, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Belton booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bell County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Belton?
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 Belton?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Belton police for its own arrests, the Bell 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 Belton 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.