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 September 23, 2026.
Taylor County, Texas, has about 149,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Taylor County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and two campus 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 Taylor 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: Taylor County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Taylor County
The Taylor County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Taylor County. It reported 184 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Taylor County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Abilene, 130,501 residents: 3,184 arrests reported for 2025.
- Merkel, 2,494 residents: 18 arrests reported for 2025.
- Tye, 1,241 residents: 13 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 Taylor County: Abilene Christian University and Hardin-Simmons University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Taylor 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.
- Abilene: 3,184 for 2025, 2,950 for 2024, 3,329 for 2023, 3,210 for 2022, 2,207 for 2021 and 2,809 for 2020.
- Taylor County Sheriff's Office: 184 for 2025, 131 for 2024, 177 for 2023, 153 for 2022, 150 for 2021 and 437 for 2020.
- Merkel: 18 for 2025, 14 for 2024, 6 for 2023, 22 for 2022, 24 for 2021 and 122 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Tye: 13 for 2025, 37 for 2024, 24 for 2023, 31 for 2022, 96 for 2021 and 54 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,399 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,399 in 2025 against 3,132 in 2024, up 8.5 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,068 arrests, against 2,007 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Taylor County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Taylor 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 680 people on an average day, down from about 710 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 874 beds, and it is running at 77 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Taylor 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 Taylor 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 Taylor County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Abilene, Merkel or Tye: 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 Abilene Christian University or Hardin-Simmons University: the records office of the agency involved.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at taylortx.gov/33/Open-Records (page title: Open Records | Taylor, TX).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Taylor County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the eight cities in Taylor County: Abilene, Merkel and Tye. Tuscola, Buffalo Gap, Lawn, Trent and Impact 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 Taylor County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Taylor County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Abilene (130,501)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Taylor County each year?
Abilene reported 3,184 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,399 between them.
Where are people arrested in Taylor County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Taylor County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Taylor 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 Taylor County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Taylor 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 taylortx.gov/33/Open-Records.
Is this the official Taylor 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.