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.
Waller County, Texas, has about 65,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Waller County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and eight campus, state or 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 Waller 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: Waller County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Waller County
The Waller County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Waller County. It reported 1,200 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:
- Prairie View, 8,662 residents: 30 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hempstead, 6,658 residents: 116 arrests reported for 2025.
- Brookshire, 5,782 residents: 99 arrests reported for 2025.
- Waller, 4,138 residents: 48 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 Katy Police Department is listed by the FBI across three counties including Waller County, so its arrests are not broken out for Waller County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Waller County: the Royal Independent School District, the Waller County Fire Marshal's Office, the Waller County Constable's Precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the Hempstead Independent School District (other); Prairie View A&M University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Waller 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.
- Waller County Sheriff's Office: 1,200 for 2025, 379 for 2024, 332 for 2023 and 315 for 2022.
- Hempstead: 116 for 2025, 224 for 2024, 195 for 2021, 178 for 2020 and 227 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Brookshire: 99 for 2025, 92 for 2024, 89 for 2023, 150 for 2022, 199 for 2021 and 196 for 2020.
- Waller: 48 for 2025, 44 for 2024, 43 for 2023, 39 for 2022, 48 for 2021 and 30 for 2020.
- Prairie View: 30 for 2025, 24 for 2024, 35 for 2023, 42 for 2022, 26 for 2021 and 21 for 2020.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,493 arrests that year. The four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 293 in 2025 against 384 in 2024, down 24 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,079 arrests, against 754 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Waller County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Waller 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 190 people on an average day, up from about 87 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 225 beds, and it is running at 83 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Waller County Sheriff's Office at wallercountytexassheriff.org/inmateSearch (page title: Inmate Search | Waller County Sheriff Office Website), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Waller County
An arrest in Waller County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Waller County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Waller County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at co.waller.tx.us/page/CC.CriminalCourt, phone (979) 826-7600); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.waller.tx.us/page/District.Attorney, phone 979-826-7718).
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 Waller County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. 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 Waller County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Prairie View, Hempstead, Brookshire or Waller: 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 Royal Independent School District, the Waller County Fire Marshal's Office or the Waller County Constable's Precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 979-826-7718, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Waller County District Court, through the court records page at co.waller.tx.us/page/CC.CriminalCourt, phone (979) 826-7600.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Waller County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the six cities in Waller County: Prairie View, Hempstead, Brookshire and Waller. Pine Island and Pattison 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 Waller County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Waller County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Prairie View (8,662)
- Hempstead (6,658)
- Brookshire (5,782)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Waller County each year?
The Waller County Sheriff's Office reported 1,200 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,493 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Waller County?
Look on the custody page of the Waller County Sheriff's Office at wallercountytexassheriff.org/inmateSearch. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Waller County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Waller County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Waller 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 Waller County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Waller 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 Waller 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.