Columbus
City in Franklin County, Delaware County, Fairfield County, 914,802 people.
Police
Sheriffs and county police in its counties: Delaware County Sheriff's Office, Fairfield County Sheriff's Office, Franklin County Sheriff's Office.
A department is the place's own when its name is the place's and its FBI population fits the place's people (decision city-or-town-is-its-police-department). Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29.
Where it sits
- People
- 914,802
- Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024
How a case moves here
Columbus follows Ohio law on arrests, release, and courts; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.
- Who decides release first
Every court must keep a bail schedule for misdemeanors so people can be released before they see a judge. When no judge, magistrate, or clerk is available, the sheriff, police, or jailer may set bail from that schedule. Only a judge or magistrate sets bail on a felony.
Ohio Rev. Code 2937.23Ohio Rev. Code 2937.011(I)- Time to see a judge
A person arrested and still held must see a judicial officer for a bail hearing by the second court day after arrest. After a warrantless arrest, a judge or magistrate must also review probable cause within 48 hours, but that review can happen on paper. If the person had no lawyer at the first hearing and is still held, a second bail hearing with appointed counsel follows two court days later.
Ohio Rev. Code 2937.011(J)Ohio Crim. R. 4(E)(2)- Money bail
Ohio courts may set money bail. The constitution tells courts to weigh public safety, the charge, and the person's record when setting the amount. State law requires the least restrictive conditions and any money terms to be the least costly that will bring the person back to court.
Ohio Const. art. I, sec. 9Ohio Rev. Code 2937.011(A)-(B)
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Crim.R. 46 was repealed July 1, 2023; bail rules now sit in R.C. 2937.011. Common pleas candidates may run in party primaries even though the general ballot is nonpartisan; not confirmed from statute text here. Magistrate lawyer requirement under Crim.R. 19 not read. That city prosecutors handle misdemeanors is general practice, not read from statute.
Crime
Offenses reported by Columbus Police Department, Columbus's own department. The county sheriff and state police may answer calls here too; their offenses are on their own pages.
The crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Ohio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 6,331 | 4,932 | 4,926 | 4,480 | 3,563 | 528 | 315 |
| Murder | 212 | 136 | 147 | 117 | 84 | 15 | 6.3 |
| Rape | 1,266 | 1,215 | 1,244 | 1,234 | 987 | 130 | 52 |
| Robbery | 2,054 | 1,354 | 1,247 | 1,114 | 970 | 147 | 54 |
| Aggravated assault | 2,799 | 2,227 | 2,288 | 2,015 | 1,522 | 237 | 203 |
| Property crime | 31,318 | 32,743 | 30,308 | 28,349 | 23,576 | 3,189 | 1,700 |
| Burglary | 4,962 | 4,467 | 4,112 | 3,981 | 3,449 | 457 | 241 |
| Larceny | 21,242 | 20,819 | 19,187 | 18,474 | 15,580 | 2,077 | 1,227 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 5,114 | 7,457 | 7,009 | 5,894 | 4,547 | 654 | 232 |
| Arson | 12 | 15 | 24 | 19 | 21 | 2 | 9.4 |
Outside the crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Ohio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All offenses outside the crime index | 43,066 | 42,163 | 39,253 | 36,512 | 34,865 | 4,269 | 2,693 |
| Simple assault and intimidation | 18,583 | 17,724 | 15,545 | 15,436 | 16,170 | 1,819 | 1,147 |
| Vandalism | 12,991 | 15,671 | 15,552 | 14,151 | 11,787 | 1,529 | 569 |
| Fraud | 6,589 | 4,305 | 3,844 | 3,415 | 2,521 | 451 | 226 |
| Drug abuse violations | 791 | 729 | 642 | 490 | 440 | 67 | 467 |
| Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc. | 2,597 | 2,138 | 2,200 | 1,498 | 838 | 202 | 116 |
| Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing | 194 | 212 | 140 | 108 | 116 | 17 | 43 |
| Forgery and counterfeiting | 112 | 142 | 99 | 75 | 58 | 11 | 30 |
| Embezzlement | 135 | 129 | 96 | 42 | 1,875 | 50 | 4.5 |
| Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution) | 530 | 567 | 580 | 671 | 525 | 63 | 37 |
| Prostitution and commercialized vice | 153 | 112 | 79 | 171 | 104 | 13 | 4.9 |
| Gambling | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 0.1 |
| Other Group A offenses | 390 | 433 | 471 | 453 | 428 | 47 | 49 |
| Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total) | 1 | 1 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 0.2 | ||
| Human trafficking (not in the total) | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 0.4 |
Offenses Columbus Police Department reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the department polices, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Ohio's rate over the same years. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.
Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Ohio: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.