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 on October 1, 2026.
Rusk County, Texas, has about 53,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Rusk County Sheriff's Office, five 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 Rusk 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: Rusk County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Rusk County
The Rusk County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Rusk County. It reported 224 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside five 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:
- Henderson, 13,485 residents: 412 arrests reported for 2025.
- Overton, 2,305 residents: 58 arrests reported for 2025.
- Tatum, 1,400 residents: 13 arrests reported for 2025.
- New London, 988 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mount Enterprise, 512 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 Kilgore Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Rusk County, so its arrests are not broken out for Rusk County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Rusk County: the Rusk County Constable's Precincts 1, 2, 4 and 5, the Tatem Independent School District and the Mount Enterprise Independent School District (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Rusk 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.
- Henderson: 412 for 2025, 313 for 2024, 358 for 2023, 556 for 2021, 307 for 2020 and 361 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Rusk County Sheriff's Office: 224 for 2025, 221 for 2024, 374 for 2022, 393 for 2021, 318 for 2020 and 171 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Overton: 58 for 2025, 49 for 2024, 43 for 2023, 29 for 2022, 30 for 2021 and 10 for 2020.
- Tatum: 13 for 2025, 15 for 2024, 7 for 2023, 10 for 2022, 23 for 2021 and 11 for 2020.
- New London: 3 for 2025, 2 for 2024 and 6 for 2023.
- Mount Enterprise: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 2 for 2023 and 17 for 2021; 2022 is missing months.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 710 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 710 in 2025 against 600 in 2024, up 18 percent.
Through August 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 464 arrests, against 502 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Rusk County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Rusk 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 120 people on an average day, up from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 292 beds, and it is running at 40 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 Rusk County Sheriff's Office at cjtexas.org/CORRECTIONS/COUNTY/RUSK-COUNTY-CORRECTIONS (page title: Rusk County Corrections), 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 Rusk 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 Rusk 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 Rusk County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Henderson, Overton, Tatum, New London or Mount Enterprise: 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 Rusk County Constable's Precincts 1, 2, 4 and 5, the Tatem Independent School District or the Mount Enterprise Independent School District: the records office of the agency involved.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Rusk County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the five cities in Rusk County: Henderson, Overton, Tatum, New London and Mount Enterprise.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Rusk County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Rusk County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Henderson (13,485)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Rusk County each year?
Henderson reported 412 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 710 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Rusk County?
Ask the Rusk County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at cjtexas.org.
Where are people arrested in Rusk County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Rusk County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Rusk 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 Rusk County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Rusk 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 Rusk 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.