Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 26, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Decorah, Iowa, in Winneshiek County, has about 7,500 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the County Attorney files charges, a case in the Iowa District Court for Winneshiek County. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Decorah public records, Winneshiek County arrest records, Iowa arrest records and Iowa inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Decorah
The FBI lists Decorah with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Decorah Police Department. It reported 151 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Winneshiek County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 127 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Decorah Reports
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Decorah: 151 for 2025, 135 for 2024, 105 for 2023, 69 for 2022, 61 for 2021 and 97 for 2020.
Decorah's 151 arrests in 2025 were up 12 percent from 135 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Decorah reported 59 arrests, against 97 in the same months of 2025.
Across Winneshiek County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 278 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Decorah Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Decorah and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 18 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 13 beds, and it ran at 138 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Winneshiek County Sheriff's Office at winneshiekcounty.iowa.gov/departments/sheriff/current-inmates (page title: CURRENT INMATES | Winneshiek County), phone 563-382-4268, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Iowa Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.iowa.gov/inmate-family-services.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Decorah
An arrest in Decorah can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Winneshiek County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; Iowa Courts Online, the Iowa Judicial Branch's free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at winneshiekcounty.iowa.gov/departments/attorney, phone 563-382-3773).
Iowa is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can request a name-based criminal history check online, through the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Decorah
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Iowa Open Records Law (Chapter 22) the agency must answer without delay; the law sets no fixed number of days, and a delay past 20 days must be justified, and it may charge the actual cost of copying and retrieval.
- An arrest by the Decorah police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at decorahia.org/departments/police-department (page title: Police Department | City of Decorah Iowa), phone (563) 382-3667, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Winneshiek County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 563-382-4268.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 563-382-3773, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Winneshiek County guide covers every agency in the county: Winneshiek County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Decorah each year?
Decorah reported 151 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Decorah?
Look on the custody page of the Winneshiek County Sheriff's Office at winneshiekcounty.iowa.gov, or call 563-382-4268. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Decorah booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Winneshiek County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Decorah?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation: anyone can request a name-based criminal history check online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Iowa Open Records Law (Chapter 22).
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Decorah?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Decorah police for its own arrests, the Winneshiek County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Iowa Open Records Law (Chapter 22) the answer is due without delay; the law sets no fixed number of days, and a delay past 20 days must be justified.
Is this the official Decorah website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.