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.
South Houston, Texas, in Harris County, has about 16,000 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 Harris 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: South Houston public records, Harris County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in South Houston
The FBI lists South Houston with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as South Houston Police Department. It reported 879 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 Harris County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 19,404 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Harris County: the Galena Park Independent School District, the Harris County Constable's Precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, the La Porte Fire Marshal's Office, the Houston Independent School District and 19 more (other); the University of Texas at Houston, the University of Houston's Central and Downtown Campuses, Texas Southern University, San Jacinto College's Central Campus and six more (campus police).
How Many Arrests South Houston 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.
- South Houston: 879 for 2025, 813 for 2024, 596 for 2023, 660 for 2022, 571 for 2021 and 516 for 2020.
South Houston's 879 arrests in 2025 were up 8.1 percent from 813 in 2024.
Through August 2026, South Houston reported 448 arrests, against 634 in the same months of 2025.
Across Harris County, the 22 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 67,249 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in South Houston Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in South Houston 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 7,050 people on an average day, down from about 8,980 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 10,466 beds, and it is running at 67 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 Harris County Sheriff's Office at harriscountyso.org/JailInfo/Default (page title: Jail Information-Harris County Texas Sheriff's Office), phone 866-268-8959, 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 South Houston
An arrest in South Houston can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Harris County District Court, kept by the District Clerk for district court cases and the County Clerk for county court cases, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at dao.harriscountytx.gov, phone 713-274-5800).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at jpwebsite.harriscountytx.gov/FindMyCase/search.jsp (page title: Harris County JP Public Access -- Welcome), belongs to a lower court, not to the Harris County District Court.
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 South Houston
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 South Houston police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at southhoustontx.gov/206/Open-Records-Request (page title: Open Records Request | South Houston, TX), phone 713-947-7700, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Harris County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 866-268-8959.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 713-274-5800, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Harris County District Court it is kept by the District Clerk for district court cases and the County Clerk for county court cases. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at jpwebsite.harriscountytx.gov, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Harris County guide covers every agency in the county: Harris County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in South Houston each year?
South Houston reported 879 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in South Houston?
Ask the Harris County Sheriff's Office at 866-268-8959; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at harriscountyso.org/JailInfo/Default.
Where are people arrested in South Houston booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Harris County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in South Houston?
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 South Houston?
From the agency that made the arrest: the South Houston police for its own arrests, the Harris 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 South Houston 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.