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.
Prairie View, Texas, in Waller County, has about 8,700 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 Waller 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: Prairie View public records, Waller County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Prairie View
The FBI lists Prairie View with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Prairie View Police Department. It reported 30 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 Waller County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,200 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Waller County: the Royal Independent School District, the Waller County Fire Marshal's Office, the Waller County Constable's Precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the Hempstead Independent School District (other); Prairie View A&M University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Prairie View 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.
- Prairie View: 30 for 2025, 24 for 2024, 35 for 2023, 42 for 2022, 26 for 2021 and 21 for 2020.
Through July 2026, Prairie View reported 19 arrests, against 11 in the same months of 2025.
Across Waller County, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,493 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Prairie View Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Prairie View 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 190 people on an average day, up from about 87 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 225 beds, and it is running at 83 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 Waller County Sheriff's Office at wallercountytexassheriff.org/inmateSearch (page title: Inmate Search | Waller County Sheriff Office Website), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 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 Prairie View
Whether someone was arrested in Prairie View, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Waller County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Waller County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at co.waller.tx.us/page/CC.CriminalCourt, phone (979) 826-7600); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.waller.tx.us/page/District.Attorney, phone 979-826-7718).
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 Prairie View
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 Prairie View police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at prairieviewtexas.gov/departments/police_department/forms.php (page title: Police Department Forms), 44500 Business Highway 290 P.O. Box 817 Prairie View, TX 77446, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Waller County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 979-826-7718, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Waller County District Court, through the court records page at co.waller.tx.us/page/CC.CriminalCourt, phone (979) 826-7600.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Waller County guide covers every agency in the county: Waller County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Prairie View each year?
Prairie View reported 30 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Prairie View?
Look on the custody page of the Waller County Sheriff's Office at wallercountytexassheriff.org/inmateSearch. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Prairie View booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Waller County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Prairie View?
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 Prairie View?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Prairie View police for its own arrests, the Waller 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 Prairie View 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.