Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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 30, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Austin County, Texas, has about 33,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Austin County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and five other agencies. An arrest 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 Austin County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Austin County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Austin County
The Austin County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Austin County. It reported 210 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside four of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Sealy, 7,553 residents: 87 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bellville, 4,291 residents: 80 arrests reported for 2025.
- Wallis, 1,360 residents: 22 arrests reported for 2025.
- San Felipe, 717 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Austin County: the Austin County Constable's Precincts 2, 1, 3 and 4 and the Sealy Independent School District (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Austin County
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.
- Austin County Sheriff's Office: 210 for 2025, 231 for 2024, 178 for 2023, 145 for 2022, 288 for 2020 and 294 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Sealy: 87 for 2025, 101 for 2024, 117 for 2023, 115 for 2021, 129 for 2020 and 196 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Bellville: 80 for 2025, 116 for 2024, 113 for 2023, 79 for 2022, 43 for 2021 and 72 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Wallis: 22 for 2025, 14 for 2024, 23 for 2023, 12 for 2022, 37 for 2021 and 40 for 2020.
- San Felipe: 0 for 2025.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 399 arrests that year. The four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 399 in 2025 against 462 in 2024, down 14 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 258 arrests, against 280 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Austin County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Austin County 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 62 people on an average day, up from about 34 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 89 beds, and it is running at 70 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 Austin County Sheriff's Office at austincounty.com/page/austin.sheriff (page title: Austin County, Texas), phone 979-865-3112, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 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 Austin County
For Austin County the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at austincounty.com/page/austin.district.attorney, phone 979-865-5933).
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 Austin County
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 Austin County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 979-865-3112.
- An arrest in Sealy, Bellville, Wallis or San Felipe: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the Austin County Constable's Precincts 2, 1, 3 and 4 or the Sealy Independent School District: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 979-865-5933, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The other Austin County guides go further: police reports and property records.
Cities in Austin County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the seven cities in Austin County: Sealy, Bellville, Wallis and San Felipe. Brazos Country, Industry and South Frydek have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Austin County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Austin County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Sealy (7,553)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Austin County each year?
The Austin County Sheriff's Office reported 210 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 399 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Austin County?
Ask the Austin County Sheriff's Office at 979-865-3112; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at austincounty.com/page/austin.sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Austin County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Austin County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Austin County?
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 Austin County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Austin County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Texas Public Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Austin County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.