Henderson County Arrest Records

In Henderson County, members of the police force may arrest a person for violating the law, and the individual may be processed at the police station for the offense and held in secure custody until they bail out or see a judge/magistrate. During processing (also called "booking"), officers will take down the suspect's personal information, note their belongings, and collect DNA or other required samples, among other necessary procedures. Information from the booking process is used to create several reports, including the arrest report or record.

Arrest records document the circumstances surrounding an arrest incident. They are not the same as the Henderson County court records, which detail criminal and civil court proceedings. Moreover, they do not reveal whether a person was later convicted or found innocent of a charge.

Are Arrest Records Public in Henderson County?

Yes, arrest records can be seen or copied by members of the public in Henderson County. The Tennessee Public Records Act secures the public's right to request these records from law enforcement or other related agencies. However, particular records are exempt from public access by law, and others may be sealed or restricted by the court. Examples of these confidential records include:

• Hepatitis and HIV/AIDS test results
• Protected informant data
• Juvenile offender data
• Investigative reports and intelligence information
• Identifying information of victims of violent crimes, including work addresses, social security numbers, and telephone numbers

What Do Public Arrest Records Contain?

Public arrest records in Henderson County, Tennessee, include the following details:

• The full name, birth date, sex, and physical description of the suspected offender
• The time, location, and date of the arrest
• The time and date of the offender's booking/processing
• The alleged crime, offense description, and offense statute
• Any bail amount set for the offense

Henderson County Arrest Statistics

The Crime in Tennessee reports published each year by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), CJIS Division, provide a snapshot of Tennessee's crime and arrest figures, rates, and trends. Henderson County arrest statistics are available to the public in these reports, but the data is arranged by each reporting law enforcement agency.

Accordingly, the Henderson County Sheriff's Department, which serves the entire county, reported 280 arrests in 2023 (the most recent year as of the time of publishing). Adult arrests accounted for 259 of the Sheriff's total, while juvenile arrests totalled 21. Of all arrests carried out by the Sheriff's Department, the most common were simple assault (62 arrests), drug/narcotic violations (48 arrests), and aggravated assault (28 arrests).

Meanwhile, the Lexington Police Department, serving the City of Lexington, recorded 587 arrests—476 adult arrests, 108 juvenile arrests, and three where the suspect was of an unknown age. The department's arrest rate was 7,383.6 per 100,000 population, and drug/narcotic violations (79), simple assault (76), and theft–shoplifting (64) were the top offense arrests.

More recent Henderson County arrest statistics can be obtained by querying the above departments, checking for a new Crime in Tennessee publication, or searching the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Crime Data Explorer.

Find Henderson County Arrest Records

The initial department one may stop by for an arrest record in Henderson County, Tennessee, is the Sheriff's Department. The Sheriff runs the local jail, which serves both pretrial detainees and convicted offenders. Inquirers will need to possess at least an arrestee's name and date of birth or the arrest date. Below are the Sheriff's contact details:

170 Justice Center Drive
Lexington, TN 38351
Phone: (731) 968-7777

It should be noted that local arrest histories may only be available to subjects of records, their designated representatives, and criminal justice entities.

Where the arrestee is not being held at county, one may contact the department that performed the arrest. If a municipal department made the arrest, a query can be made to the department's records division. However, if a federal agency made the arrest, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Inmate Locator may be utilized to find out where the suspect is being supervised. One can also send an FOIA application to the Bureau of Prisons for a federal inmate's status.

Free Arrest Record Search in Henderson County

To find records of arrests in Henderson County for free, a person can reach out to the arresting department. Limited arrest information may be available at no cost, but if copies must be made, the requester will be liable for the corresponding fees.

Members of the public can also access third-party public records databases for a free arrest record search. A name or case number may be required as the initial search keyword. However, users may need to pay a fee or register for a subscription account to view the search results.

How Long Do Arrests Stay on Your Record?

Arrests remain on file permanently. However, the Tennessee legislature allows qualified arrestees to remove and destroy public records connected with their arrests, charges, and sometimes convictions through a process called "expungement".

Any person who receives an expungement order in Tennessee is not required to reveal the existence of their record unless required by law, and they can state that the incident never happened.

Expunge Henderson County Arrest Records

Adults can expunge their Henderson County arrest records by petitioning a court, mainly under T.C.A. §40-32-101. The law permits expunction (or expungement) of adult arrest records in the following circumstances:

• When an arrestee was released without charges
• When the charges were dismissed
• When a criminal case was "nolle prossed" (not prosecuted)
• When a grand jury no-billed a charge
• When a defendant received a "not guilty" verdict

Eligible parties can file a request with the court that handled their criminal case. A duly completed expungement petition should be submitted to the court clerk. (The petition form also identifies eligible juvenile offenses and can be used to file juvenile expungement requests.) Petitioners may need to obtain their court records from the clerk's office to fill out a petition, and they may need to pay a filing fee. However, filing fees are not applicable where a case was no-billed, dismissed, nolle prossed, or the defendant acquitted.

If the presiding court grants the expungement, all agencies having the record, including the arresting agency, county jail, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and Tennessee Department of Correction will be notified and ordered to remove/delete all related records. However, expunged records may show up after private background checks (that is, when a check is not conducted through an official body like the TBI). In such cases, the defendant should contact the company that disseminates the record. The expungement order obtained from the court may be a necessary document for facilitating third-party record removal.

Individuals who wish to expunge a conviction are advised to consult an experienced attorney or visit an expungement clinic, as only certain misdemeanors and felonies (mostly Class E felonies) are eligible. Nonetheless, the Tennessee judiciary's Expungement handout lists eligible and ineligible offenses.

Henderson County Arrest Warrants

Arrest warrants are formal directives from a judge authorizing the bodily capture of a person alleged to have committed a crime. These orders can also be issued when someone fails to show up for their court date. However, Tennessee Criminal Procedure Rule 4 and the Fourth Amendment require the establishment of "probable cause" before the court can release an arrest warrant. This means the person/official seeking the warrant must sufficiently set forth facts or evidence that would convince a reasonable person that someone is a criminal suspect or assailant.

Per Rule 4(c)(1), Henderson County arrest warrants contain the following information:

• The issuing authority's signature
• The defendant's name, or if this name is unknown, any name or description by which they can be reasonably identified
• The county of issue
• The alleged charge(s)
• An order for the police to arrest the defendant and take them to the nearest magistrate in the county of arrest

Do Henderson County Arrest Warrants Expire?

No, Any arrest warrant approved in Henderson County remains active or outstanding until its subject is apprehended, surrenders, or dies. However, the court can recall an arrest warrant under certain circumstances, such as if the suspect is later cleared of the crime.