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.
Hardin County, Texas, has about 59,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hardin County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and six 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 Hardin 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: Hardin County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hardin County
The Hardin County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hardin County. It reported 655 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:
- Lumberton, 14,255 residents: 527 arrests reported for 2025.
- Silsbee, 6,711 residents: 341 arrests reported for 2025.
- Kountze, 2,125 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sour Lake, 1,845 residents: 66 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 Hardin County: the Hardin County Constable's Precincts 1, 2 and 4, the Silsbee Independent School District, the Kountze Independent School District and the West Hardin Independent School District (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Hardin 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.
- Hardin County Sheriff's Office: 655 for 2025, 642 for 2024, 705 for 2023, 792 for 2022, 649 for 2021 and 732 for 2020.
- Lumberton: 527 for 2025, 440 for 2024, 441 for 2023, 543 for 2022, 492 for 2021 and 513 for 2020.
- Silsbee: 341 for 2025, 415 for 2024, 356 for 2023, 417 for 2022, 436 for 2021 and 331 for 2020.
- Sour Lake: 66 for 2025, 105 for 2024, 75 for 2023, 28 for 2022, 47 for 2021 and 61 for 2020.
- Kountze: 8 for 2025, 7 for 2024, 23 for 2023, 10 for 2022, 8 for 2021 and 123 for 2020.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,597 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,597 in 2025 against 1,609 in 2024, down 0.7 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 801 arrests, against 874 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hardin County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hardin 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 180 people on an average day, up from about 160 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 196 beds, and it is running at 90 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 Hardin County Sheriff's Office at hardincountysheriff.com/jail-info (page title: JAIL INFO), phone 409-246-5100, 300 West Monroe Street - Kountze, TX 77625, 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 Hardin County
An arrest in Hardin County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Hardin County District Court, kept by the District Clerk for district court cases and the County Clerk for county court cases, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at hardincountytx.gov/page/DistrictAttorney, phone 409-246-5160).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at courtrecord.net/hardin-county-tx-courts (page title: Hardin County Court Records for Free (Hardin County, TX)), phone 409-246-5120, belongs to a lower court, not to the Hardin County District Court.
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 Hardin 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 Hardin County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 409-246-5100.
- An arrest in Lumberton, Silsbee, Kountze or Sour Lake: 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 Hardin County Constable's Precincts 1, 2 and 4, the Silsbee Independent School District or the Kountze 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, 409-246-5160, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Hardin County District Court it is kept by the District Clerk for district court cases and the County Clerk for county court cases. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at courtrecord.net/hardin-county-tx-courts, phone 409-246-5120, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hcesd2.com/open-records-request (page title: Open Records Request | Hardin County ESD #2).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Hardin County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the five cities in Hardin County: Lumberton, Silsbee, Kountze and Sour Lake. Rose Hill Acres 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 Hardin County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Hardin 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 Hardin County each year?
The Hardin County Sheriff's Office reported 655 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,597 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hardin County?
Ask the Hardin County Sheriff's Office at 409-246-5100; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at hardincountysheriff.com/jail-info.
Where are people arrested in Hardin County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hardin County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hardin 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 Hardin County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hardin 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 hcesd2.com/open-records-request.
Is this the official Hardin 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.