Contact Us

Start with the DeKalb County record owner

The Sheriff’s contact channels are separated by job. Use the Public Safety Building for general administration, the non-emergency line for investigations and general law-enforcement questions, the corrections line for jail matters, and the records number shown on the official FOIA form for a records request.

The Sheriff’s FOIA form asks for a specific agency, date or time, location, case or report number, deputy or officer when known, and the record requested. It states a five-business-day response period, free paper copies through 50 pages, 15 cents per page after 50 pages, and a $25 fee for electronic video or audio media. A request for one record is different from a request for a public gallery.

Use the following routes according to the question you need answered.

• Current DeKalb County custody or a custody alert: use the Sheriff’s VINE and victim-notification page or call Corrections and Jail at 815-895-4177. Illinois VINE/VINELink handles custody notifications, release, transfer, or escape alerts, but it is not a booking-photo archive. For a warrant question, use Most Wanted Fugitives and the Sheriff’s verification route.
• City police arrest events: for DeKalb, use P2C Recent Arrests, or Daily Bulletin. For Sycamore, use police FOIA form, or media-release archive. For Sandwich, use the Sandwich Police site, its Offense Log, or the city FOIA route. These are agency sources, and Sandwich spans DeKalb and Kendall Counties.
• Court case events and disposition: check the DeKalb County Circuit Clerk’s online records and daily criminal docket. A court docket is not a live jail roster, and a missing match does not by itself prove dismissal or release.
• A Sheriff booking record or photograph request: use the official FOIA form and the records number, 815-895-7216. The arresting city police department may control a city record, so identify the agency before sending the request.
• Sentenced Illinois state custody: use the Illinois Department of Corrections offender search. IDOC is a state-prison route, not an extension of the DeKalb County Jail. A state profile or image does not establish a recent county booking.
• Federal custody: use the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator for federal inmates released after 1982. BOP can show federal status, facility, or release information, but it does not provide a public booking-photo gallery and is not the county jail.
• Immigration detention: use the ICE Online Detainee Locator with its required A-number and country-of-birth path or exact biographical fields. The system excludes people under 18. ICE’s Detention Reporting and Information Line is 1-888-351-4024. ICE custody is not proof of a DeKalb County criminal conviction or booking.

An arrest can end in citation, release, county booking, transfer, juvenile or confidential handling, or another jurisdiction. The DeKalb County Jail is physically in Sycamore, but that does not make every Sycamore Police event a county jail record. Always match the agency, date, case information, and custody owner before treating a record as current.