SearchSystems Editorial

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.

About this guide

Galveston County, Texas, has about 367,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Galveston County Sheriff's Office, 13 city agencies and 14 campus, state or 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 Galveston 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: Galveston County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Galveston County

The Galveston County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Galveston County. It reported 2,587 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside 13 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, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • League City, 118,456 residents: 1,569 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Texas City, 57,875 residents: 1,600 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Galveston, 53,538 residents: 2,517 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Friendswood, 41,291 residents: 728 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Dickinson, 21,941 residents: 579 arrests reported for 2024.
  • La Marque, 20,194 residents: 941 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Santa Fe, 13,131 residents: 159 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Hitchcock, 7,752 residents: 118 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Kemah, 2,853 residents: 235 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Bayou Vista, 1,763 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Clear Lake Shores, 1,294 residents.
  • Tiki Island, 1,120 residents: 32 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 Galveston County: the Galveston County Constable's Precincts 2, 1, 3 and 4, the Santa Fe Independent School District, the Galveston Independent School District, the Friendswood Fire Marshal's Office and four more (other); the College of the Mainland, the University of Texas at Medical Branch and Texas A&M University at Galveston (campus police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Galveston 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.

  • Galveston County Sheriff's Office: 2,587 for 2025, 2,525 for 2024, 2,364 for 2023, 2,653 for 2022, 3,140 for 2021 and 6,881 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
  • Galveston: 2,517 for 2025, 2,535 for 2024, 2,938 for 2023, 3,073 for 2021 and 2,711 for 2020; 2022 is missing months.
  • League City: 1,569 for 2025, 1,762 for 2024, 1,776 for 2023, 1,819 for 2022, 1,630 for 2021 and 1,653 for 2020.
  • La Marque: 941 for 2025, 875 for 2024, 462 for 2021, 544 for 2020 and 1,764 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
  • Friendswood: 728 for 2025, 800 for 2024, 554 for 2023, 599 for 2022, 1,034 for 2021 and 1,477 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
  • Kemah: 235 for 2025, 143 for 2024, 135 for 2023, 310 for 2022, 385 for 2021 and 229 for 2020.
  • Santa Fe: 159 for 2025, 205 for 2024, 245 for 2023, 252 for 2022, 251 for 2021 and 245 for 2020.
  • Hitchcock: 118 for 2025, 93 for 2024, 139 for 2023, 166 for 2022 and 88 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
  • Tiki Island: 32 for 2025.
  • Bayou Vista: 8 for 2025 and 8 for 2024.
  • Jamaica Beach: 6 for 2025, 2 for 2024, 35 for 2023, 9 for 2022, 3 for 2021 and 11 for 2020.
  • Texas City: 1,600 for 2024, 1,704 for 2023, 1,396 for 2022, 1,096 for 2021 and 2,893 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.

Together, the 11 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 8,900 arrests that year. The ten of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 8,868 in 2025 against 8,948 in 2024, down 0.9 percent.

Through August 2026, the nine agencies with every month so far on file reported 6,158 arrests, against 5,969 in the same months of 2025.

Texas City, Dickinson and Clear Lake Shores reported only part of 2025 (10 months, 11 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Galveston County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Galveston 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 1,070 people on an average day, up from about 980 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 1,223 beds, and it is running at 87 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 Galveston County Sheriff's Office at p2c.galvestoncountytx.gov/jailinmates.aspx (page title: Request Rejected), 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 Galveston County

Whether someone was arrested in Galveston County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Galveston County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at galvestoncountytx.gov/our-county/county-clerk/records-search, phone (409) 770-6044); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at galvestoncountytx.gov/our-county/district-attorney, phone (409) 770-6044).

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 Galveston 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 Galveston County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in League City, Texas City, Galveston, Friendswood, Dickinson, La Marque or another of the cities listed above: 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 Galveston County Constable's Precincts 2, 1, 3 and 4, the Santa Fe Independent School District or the Galveston 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, (409) 770-6044, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Galveston County District Court, through the court records page at galvestoncountytx.gov, phone (409) 770-6044.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at galvestoncountytx.gov (page title: Open Records Request | Galveston County, TX).
  • Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.

Cities in Galveston County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the 13 cities in Galveston County: the twelve named above and Jamaica Beach.

Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Galveston County District Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Galveston County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Galveston County each year?

The Galveston County Sheriff's Office reported 2,587 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 11 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 8,900 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Galveston County?

Ask the Galveston County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at p2c.galvestoncountytx.gov/jailinmates.aspx.

Where are people arrested in Galveston County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Galveston County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Galveston 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 Galveston County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Galveston 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 galvestoncountytx.gov.

Is this the official Galveston 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.