By: Diane Benjamin

I downloaded the McLean County Sheriff’s Office app awhile back. Just watching the jail population change is interesting. This morning inmates totaled 232, yesterday showed 228. I’ve seen it higher and it was around 20 less before Christmas.

I have no idea why except I was interested, but I attempted to track people who were jailed between January 21 and January 31.

This is not easy, updates to the data take time. It would be easy to miss some since I tracked them by taking daily screenshots on my phone.

In just 10 days I recorded 55 people. Some days had a lot of arrests, no days had zero.

Only 19 were not released on -0- cash bail or not charged by the State’s Attorney. Yes, some people arrested end up not being charged.

Of that 19, 7 people show still in jail with no charges as of 2/3/2026. The app shows “charges not available” and those people show nothing current in the County crimes database: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/137/Court-Records-Search

The crimes that kept people jailed ranged from drug offenses (especially meth), illegal possession of a weapon, severe domestic violence, violations of orders of protection, burglary, and sex crimes.

The app does list the age, gender, race, height, weight, eye color, and hair color of arrestees. Some are listed as race “unknown” 🤔. Most of those arrested were in their 40’s or under. Many were in their 20’s. Illinois doesn’t allow tracking anyone by citizenship status. Some of the names of those arrested would make you wonder.

I don’t want to hear the talking points about “immigrants” commit less crime when Illinois doesn’t allow tracking them.

This project was very interesting, and one I NEVER plan to do again.

Download the app if you want to see some real data on local crime.