Tarrant County

2,248,466 people, served by 54 police agencies that report to the FBI.

How a case moves here

Tarrant County follows Texas law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first: A magistrate sets bail first, at the hearing that must follow arrest. Magistrates include judges of every level, justices of the peace, and, in some counties, appointed criminal law magistrates. In misdemeanors, a sheriff, officer, or licensed jailer may take bail, and many counties use bond schedules signed by judges.
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. arts. 17.027, 17.20 to 17.22 Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 15.17
Time to see a judge: A person arrested must be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours after arrest. The magistrate gives the warnings, sets bail, and can appoint a lawyer. The hearing may be held by video.
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 15.17(a)
Money bail: Texas allows money bail. Since voters approved Proposition 3 in November 2025, a judge must deny bail for murder, aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, aggravated sexual assault, and several other felonies when the state proves flight risk or danger at a hearing, and must explain in writing any grant of bail on those charges.
Tex. Const. art. I, secs. 11 to 11d Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 17.15
Courts: District courts try felonies. Each county has a constitutional county court, and larger counties add county courts at law; these hear Class A and B misdemeanors. Justice courts and city municipal courts hear Class C misdemeanors, which carry only a fine.
Texas Office of Court Administration, The Texas Judicial System (2025)
Judges and magistrates: Voters choose district judges in partisan elections for four-year terms, and the governor fills vacancies until the next election. County judges, county court at law judges, and justices of the peace also win partisan elections for four-year terms. Justices of the peace and most constitutional county judges need not be lawyers; most municipal judges are appointed by the city council.
Texas Office of Court Administration, The Texas Judicial System (2025), "Selection and terms"

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Prop 3 (2025) changed when bail must be denied, not whether money bail exists. Appointed criminal law magistrates exist only in counties with an enabling section in Gov't Code ch. 54, such as Harris, Dallas, Bexar, and Travis. Counts of public defender offices change often; check TIDC before quoting a number.

What this county does differently

Pretrial practice: Advancing Pretrial lists it as a Public Safety Assessment site since 2021.
Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research, PSA sites list (page modified 2026-06-03)

Cities and towns

Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Tarrant County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.

Police agencies

Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.

Crime

The crime index

Crime index offenses reported by agencies in Tarrant County, 2021 to 2025
Offense	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Per 100k	Texas
Violent crime	9,430	8,833	8,504	8,115	6,864	392	411
Murder	166	149	125	110	111	6.2	6.1
Rape	1,434	1,420	1,408	1,222	1,051	61	53
Robbery	1,234	1,190	1,136	1,156	967	53	67
Aggravated assault	6,596	6,074	5,835	5,627	4,735	271	285
Property crime	49,926	50,234	51,264	51,001	43,152	2,304	2,123
Burglary	6,254	6,125	6,149	5,803	4,680	272	303
Larceny	37,058	37,842	36,695	36,698	32,585	1,697	1,493
Motor vehicle theft	6,614	6,267	8,420	8,500	5,887	335	327
Arson	162	156	145	170	137	7.2	9.2

Outside the crime index

Offenses outside the crime index reported by agencies in Tarrant County, 2021 to 2025
Offense	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Per 100k	Texas
All offenses outside the crime index	61,033	57,729	57,709	55,870	53,647	2,683	2,904
Simple assault and intimidation	22,593	21,920	21,353	21,083	20,469	1,008	1,172
Vandalism	12,058	10,921	10,617	10,122	8,566	490	534
Fraud	7,581	5,429	5,607	5,706	5,141	276	312
Drug abuse violations	12,862	13,156	13,851	13,124	13,857	627	602
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc.	2,626	2,732	2,625	2,419	2,392	120	109
Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing	297	299	246	188	201	12	17
Forgery and counterfeiting	1,043	1,247	1,134	1,125	903	51	64
Embezzlement	138	156	126	124	115	6.2	8.6
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)	635	570	445	471	454	24	27
Prostitution and commercialized vice	264	179	430	288	307	14	10
Gambling	84	173	159	134	102	6.1	1.9
Other Group A offenses	852	947	1,116	1,086	1,140	48	48
Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total)	24	23	11	12	12	0.8	0.8
Human trafficking (not in the total)	51	55	57	61	40	2.5	1.8

Offenses agencies in Tarrant County 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 reporting agencies police, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Texas's rate over the same years. Agencies that reported part of a year are counted with their people, as the state's rates count them. – 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. Texas: 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.