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 on September 23, 2026.
Cooke County, Texas, has about 44,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cooke County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and two 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 Cooke 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: Cooke County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Cooke County
The Cooke County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cooke County. It reported 134 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Gainesville, 18,295 residents: 771 arrests reported for 2025.
- Valley View, 891 residents.
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 Cooke County: the Cooke County Constable's Precincts 2 and 1 (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Cooke County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Gainesville: 771 for 2025, 772 for 2024, 928 for 2023, 968 for 2022, 842 for 2021 and 959 for 2020.
- Cooke County Sheriff's Office: 134 for 2025, 131 for 2024, 106 for 2023, 198 for 2022, 224 for 2021 and 264 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 905 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 905 in 2025 against 903 in 2024, up 0.2 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 631 arrests, against 621 in the same months of 2025.
Valley View reported only part of 2025 (4 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cooke County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Cooke 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 130 people on an average day, down from about 180 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 212 beds, and it is running at 59 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 Cooke County Sheriff's Office at co.cooke.tx.us/page/cooke.sheriff (page title: Cooke County, Texas), phone 940-665-3471, 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 Cooke County
For Cooke County the place to look is the case index of the Cooke County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at co.cooke.tx.us/page/cooke.1Dockets, phone 940-668-5401).
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 Cooke County
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 Cooke County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 940-665-3471.
- An arrest in Gainesville or Valley View: 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 Cooke County Constable's Precincts 2 and 1: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Cooke County District Court, through the court records page at co.cooke.tx.us/page/cooke.1Dockets, phone 940-668-5401.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at co.cooke.tx.us/page/cooke.openrecords (page title: Cooke County, Texas).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Cooke County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the six cities in Cooke County: Gainesville and Valley View. Muenster, Lindsay, Road Runner and Callisburg have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Oak Ridge Police Department as a city agency in Cooke County; Oak Ridge is not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Cooke County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Cooke County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Gainesville (18,295)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cooke County each year?
Gainesville reported 771 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 905 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cooke County?
Ask the Cooke County Sheriff's Office at 940-665-3471; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at co.cooke.tx.us/page/cooke.sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Cooke County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cooke County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cooke 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 Cooke County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cooke 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at co.cooke.tx.us/page/cooke.openrecords.
Is this the official Cooke 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.