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 September 26, 2026.
Bowie, Texas, in Montague County, has about 6,100 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 Montague 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: Bowie public records, Montague County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Bowie
The FBI lists Bowie with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Bowie Police Department. It reported 74 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 Montague County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 41 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Bowie 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.
- Bowie: 74 for 2025, 111 for 2024 and 239 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Bowie's 74 arrests in 2025 were down 33 percent from 111 in 2024.
Across Montague County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,303 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Bowie Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Bowie 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 57 people on an average day, up from about 47 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 101 beds, and it is running at 56 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Montague County Sheriff's Office at montaguesheriff.com/detention-center.html (page title: County Jail), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Bowie
For Bowie the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.montague.tx.us/page/montague.District.Attorney, phone 940-894-6211).
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 Bowie
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 Bowie police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cityofbowietx.com/223/Records (page title: Records | Bowie, TX), phone (940) 872-2251, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Montague County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 940-894-6211, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at co.montague.tx.us/page/montague.OpenRecords (page title: Montague County, Texas).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Montague County guide covers every agency in the county: Montague County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Bowie each year?
Bowie reported 74 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Bowie?
Ask the Montague County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at montaguesheriff.com/detention-center.html.
Where are people arrested in Bowie booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Montague County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Bowie?
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 Bowie?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Bowie police for its own arrests, the Montague 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 co.montague.tx.us/page/montague.OpenRecords.
Is this the official Bowie 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.