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 September 30, 2026.
Benton County, Washington, has about 218,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Benton County Sheriff's Office and four city 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 Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Benton County Superior 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: Benton County public records, Washington arrest records, Washington inmate search and Washington criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Benton County
The Benton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Benton County. It reported 301 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Benton County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Kennewick, 86,728 residents: 2,496 arrests reported for 2025.
- Richland, 64,372 residents: 1,383 arrests reported for 2025.
- West Richland, 18,820 residents: 173 arrests reported for 2025.
- Prosser, 6,540 residents: 107 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 Benton 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.
- Kennewick: 2,496 for 2025, 2,234 for 2024, 1,576 for 2023, 1,750 for 2022, 2,066 for 2021 and 2,180 for 2020.
- Richland: 1,383 for 2025, 1,144 for 2024, 1,166 for 2023, 1,260 for 2022, 1,454 for 2021 and 1,720 for 2020.
- Benton County Sheriff's Office: 301 for 2025, 316 for 2024, 274 for 2023, 724 for 2020 and 748 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- West Richland: 173 for 2025, 143 for 2024, 192 for 2023, 190 for 2021, 182 for 2020 and 219 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Prosser: 107 for 2025, 103 for 2024, 51 for 2023, 114 for 2022, 208 for 2021 and 181 for 2020.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,460 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,460 in 2025 against 3,940 in 2024, up 13 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,039 arrests, against 1,189 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Benton County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Benton 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.
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 420 people, down from about 630 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 720 beds, and it ran at 58 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Benton County Sheriff's Office at bentoncountywa.gov/departments/administration/corrections/daily_jai... (page title: Benton County, WA), phone 509-783-1451, 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 Washington State Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.wa.gov/records/incarcerated-data-search/incarcerated-search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Benton County
Whether someone was arrested in Benton County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Benton County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Benton County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at bentoncountywa.gov/departments/courts_and_judicial_services/distric..., phone 855-873-9709); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at bentoncountywa.gov/government/elected_officials/prosecuting_attorne..., phone 509-735-3591).
Statewide, Washington Courts Search Case Records is the Administrative Office of the Courts' free statewide case search.
Washington is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: WATCH lets anyone search conviction records by name online, for $12 a search, through the Washington State Patrol. 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 Benton 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 Public Records Act (RCW 42.56) the agency must answer within 5 business days, and it may charge for copies at 15 cents a page, and set fees for electronic records.
- An arrest by the Benton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 509-783-1451.
- An arrest in Kennewick, Richland, West Richland or Prosser: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 509-735-3591, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Benton County Superior Court, through the court records page at bentoncountywa.gov, phone 855-873-9709.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bentoncountywa.gov (page title: Benton County, WA).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Benton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the five cities in Benton County: Kennewick, Richland, West Richland and Prosser. Benton City has 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 Benton County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Benton County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Benton County each year?
Kennewick reported 2,496 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,460 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Benton County?
Look on the custody page of the Benton County Sheriff's Office at bentoncountywa.gov, or call 509-783-1451. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Benton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Benton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Benton County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Washington State Patrol: WATCH lets anyone search conviction records by name online, for $12. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56).
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Benton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Benton County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56) the answer is due within 5 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bentoncountywa.gov.
Is this the official Benton 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.