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.
Big Spring, Texas, in Howard County, has about 23,000 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 Howard 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: Big Spring public records, Howard County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Big Spring
The FBI lists Big Spring with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Big Spring Police Department. It reported 754 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 Howard County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 183 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Big Spring 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.
- Big Spring: 754 for 2025, 815 for 2024, 951 for 2023, 1,105 for 2022, 1,112 for 2021 and 870 for 2020.
Big Spring's 754 arrests in 2025 were down 7.5 percent from 815 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Big Spring reported 556 arrests, against 519 in the same months of 2025.
Across Howard County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 937 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Big Spring Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Big Spring 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 84 people on an average day, up from about 75 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 102 beds, and it is running at 82 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 Big Spring
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 Big Spring
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 Big Spring police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at bigspringtx.gov/m/directory/department?did=27 (page title: Staff Directory, Police Department), phone 432-264-2550, 3613 West Highway 80 Big Spring, TX 79720, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Howard County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Howard County guide covers every agency in the county: Howard County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Big Spring each year?
Big Spring reported 754 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Big Spring booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Howard County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Big Spring?
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 Big Spring?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Big Spring police for its own arrests, the Howard 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 Big Spring 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.