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 25, 2026.
Elgin, Texas, in Bastrop County, has about 12,000 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 Bastrop 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: Elgin public records, Bastrop County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Elgin
The FBI lists Elgin with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Elgin Police Department. It reported 306 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 Bastrop County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 875 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Bastrop County: the Bastrop County Constable's Precincts 4, 1 and 2 and the Bastrop Independent School District (other).
How Many Arrests Elgin 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.
- Elgin: 306 for 2025, 335 for 2024, 310 for 2023, 148 for 2022, 137 for 2021 and 82 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Elgin's 306 arrests in 2025 were down 8.7 percent from 335 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Elgin reported 171 arrests, against 209 in the same months of 2025.
Across Bastrop County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,971 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Elgin Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Elgin 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 260 people on an average day, down from about 280 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 372 beds, and it is running at 69 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 Bastrop County Sheriff's Office at bastropcounty.gov/page/lec.faq (page title: Jail Frequently Asked Questions | Sheriff's Office | Bastrop County), phone (512) 549-5100, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Elgin
For Elgin the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at bastropcounty.gov/page/da.attorney, phone (512) 581-7125).
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 Elgin
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 Elgin police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at elgintexas.gov/m/faq?cat=27 (page title: FAQs | CivicPlus.CMS.FAQ), phone 512-281-3330, 202 Depot St Elgin, TX 78621, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (512) 549-5100.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (512) 581-7125, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bastropcounty.gov/page/co.public_information (page title: Public Information Requests | Bastrop County).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Bastrop County guide covers every agency in the county: Bastrop County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Elgin each year?
Elgin reported 306 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Elgin?
Ask the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office at (512) 549-5100; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at bastropcounty.gov/page/lec.faq.
Where are people arrested in Elgin booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Elgin?
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 Elgin?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Elgin police for its own arrests, the Bastrop 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 bastropcounty.gov/page/co.public_information.
Is this the official Elgin 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.