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.
Liberty County, Texas, has about 115,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Liberty 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 Liberty 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: Liberty County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Liberty County
The Liberty County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Liberty County. It reported 466 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Liberty County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Cleveland, 9,757 residents: 644 arrests reported for 2020.
- Dayton, 9,752 residents: 137 arrests reported for 2025.
- Liberty, 8,974 residents: 96 arrests reported for 2025.
- Plum Grove, 1,639 residents: 0 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 Mont Belvieu Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Liberty County, so its arrests are not broken out for Liberty County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Liberty County: the Cleveland Independent School District (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Liberty 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.
- Liberty County Sheriff's Office: 466 for 2025, 426 for 2024, 374 for 2023, 364 for 2022, 421 for 2021 and 346 for 2020.
- Dayton: 137 for 2025, 160 for 2024, 212 for 2023, 271 for 2022, 303 for 2021 and 303 for 2020.
- Liberty: 96 for 2025, 84 for 2024, 92 for 2023, 183 for 2022, 285 for 2020 and 415 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Plum Grove: 0 for 2025 and 0 for 2024.
- Cleveland: 644 for 2020 and 552 for 2019.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 699 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 699 in 2025 against 670 in 2024, up 4.3 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 513 arrests, against 459 in the same months of 2025.
Cleveland reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Liberty County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Liberty 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, down from about 320 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 281 beds, and it is running at 63 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 Liberty County Sheriff's Office at libertytxsheriff.com (page title: Liberty County Sheriff Office | Texas), phone 936-336-4500, 5345 N Main St. Liberty, TX 77575, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 2026.
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 Liberty County
An arrest in Liberty County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Liberty County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at co.liberty.tx.us/page/liberty.county.clerk, phone 936-336-4670); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.liberty.tx.us/page/liberty.district.attorney, phone 936-336-4609).
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 Liberty 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 Liberty County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 936-336-4500.
- An arrest in Cleveland, Dayton, Liberty or Plum Grove: 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 Cleveland 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, 936-336-4609, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Liberty County District Court, through the court records page at co.liberty.tx.us/page/liberty.county.clerk, phone 936-336-4670.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at libertycountytx.nextrequest.com (page title: Open Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Liberty County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the 11 cities in Liberty County: Cleveland, Dayton, Liberty and Plum Grove. Ames, Daisetta, Hardin, Kenefick, Devers, North Cleveland and Dayton Lakes 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 Liberty County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Liberty County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Dayton (9,752)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Liberty County each year?
The Liberty County Sheriff's Office reported 466 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 699 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Liberty County?
Ask the Liberty County Sheriff's Office at 936-336-4500; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at libertytxsheriff.com.
Where are people arrested in Liberty County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Liberty County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Liberty 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 Liberty County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Liberty 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 libertycountytx.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Liberty 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.