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 September 30, 2026.
Hale County, Texas, has about 32,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hale County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and one other agency. 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 Hale 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: Hale County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hale County
The Hale County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hale County. It reported 262 arrests for 2020, its latest complete year.
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:
- Plainview, 19,429 residents: 340 arrests reported for 2025.
- Abernathy, 2,838 residents: 13 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hale Center, 2,000 residents: 9 arrests reported for 2025.
- Petersburg, 971 residents: 1 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 one more agency in Hale County: the Hale County Constable's Precinct 3 (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Hale 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.
- Plainview: 340 for 2025, 464 for 2024, 383 for 2023, 384 for 2022 and 360 for 2021.
- Abernathy: 13 for 2025, 13 for 2024, 20 for 2023, 13 for 2022, 13 for 2021 and 9 for 2020.
- Hale Center: 9 for 2025, 7 for 2024 and 16 for 2023.
- Petersburg: 1 for 2025, 13 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2021 and 2 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Hale County Sheriff's Office: 262 for 2020 and 460 for 2019.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 363 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 363 in 2025 against 497 in 2024, down 27 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 271 arrests, against 231 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hale County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Hale 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 110 people on an average day, down from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 190 beds, and it is running at 58 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Hale County Sheriff's Office at halecounty.org/county_offices/jail/jail_roster.php (page title: Welcome to Halecounty), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Hale County
An arrest in Hale County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Hale County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Hale County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at 242ndcourt.com, phone 806-291-5254).
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 Hale 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 Hale County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Plainview, Abernathy, Hale Center or Petersburg: 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 Hale County Constable's Precinct 3: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Hale County District Court, through the court records page at 242ndcourt.com, phone 806-291-5254.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Hale County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the five cities in Hale County: Plainview, Abernathy, Hale Center and Petersburg. Edmonson has 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 Hale County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Hale County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Plainview (19,429)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hale County each year?
Plainview reported 340 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 363 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hale County?
Look on the custody page of the Hale County Sheriff's Office at halecounty.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Hale County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hale County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hale 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 Hale County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hale 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 Hale 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.