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 23, 2026 and October 1, 2026.
Gonzales County, Texas, has about 20,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and four 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 Gonzales 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: Gonzales County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Gonzales County
The Gonzales County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Gonzales County. It reported 127 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:
- Gonzales, 7,238 residents: 182 arrests reported for 2025.
- Nixon, 2,389 residents: 70 arrests reported for 2025.
- Waelder, 955 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2025.
- Smiley, 490 residents: 2 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 Gonzales County: the Gonzales Independent School District and the Gonzales County Constable's Precincts 4, 3 and 1 (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Gonzales 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.
- Gonzales: 182 for 2025, 162 for 2024, 205 for 2023, 274 for 2022, 204 for 2021 and 605 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Gonzales County Sheriff's Office: 127 for 2025, 124 for 2024, 193 for 2023, 106 for 2022, 143 for 2021 and 100 for 2020.
- Nixon: 70 for 2025 and 76 for 2024.
- Waelder: 8 for 2025, 19 for 2024 and 27 for 2023.
- Smiley: 2 for 2025 and 1 for 2024.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 389 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 389 in 2025 against 382 in 2024, up 1.8 percent.
Through August 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 319 arrests, against 263 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Gonzales County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Gonzales County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 80 people on an average day, up from about 71 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 96 beds, and it is running at 83 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Gonzales County
For Gonzales County the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.gonzales.tx.us/default.aspx?Gonzales_County%2FDistrict.Attorney=).
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 Gonzales 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 Gonzales County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Gonzales, Nixon, Waelder or Smiley: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Gonzales Independent School District or the Gonzales County Constable's Precincts 4, 3 and 1: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Gonzales County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Gonzales County: Gonzales, Nixon, Waelder and Smiley.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Gonzales County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Gonzales County each year?
Gonzales reported 182 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 389 between them.
Where are people arrested in Gonzales County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Gonzales 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 Gonzales County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Gonzales 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 Gonzales 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.