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.
Howard County, Texas, has about 31,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Howard County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Howard 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: Howard County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Howard County
The Howard County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Howard County. It reported 183 arrests for 2025.
One city in Howard County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Big Spring, 22,541 residents: 754 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Howard 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.
- Big Spring: 754 for 2025, 815 for 2024, 951 for 2023, 1,105 for 2022, 1,112 for 2021 and 870 for 2020.
- Howard County Sheriff's Office: 183 for 2025, 194 for 2024, 273 for 2023, 279 for 2022, 205 for 2021 and 172 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 937 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 937 in 2025 against 1,009 in 2024, down 7.1 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 689 arrests, against 642 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Howard County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Howard 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 84 people on an average day, up from about 75 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 102 beds, and it is running at 82 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Howard County
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 Howard 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 Howard County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Big Spring: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Howard County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Howard County: Big Spring. Coahoma and Forsan have 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 Howard County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Howard County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Big Spring (22,541)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Howard County each year?
Big Spring reported 754 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 937 between them.
Where are people arrested in Howard County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Howard County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Howard 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 Howard County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Howard 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 Howard 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.