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 24, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Fort Dodge, Iowa, in Webster County, has about 25,000 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 Webster 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: Fort Dodge public records, Webster County arrest records, Iowa arrest records and Iowa inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Fort Dodge
The FBI lists Fort Dodge with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Fort Dodge Police Department. It reported 899 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 Webster County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 128 arrests for 2024.
How Many Arrests Fort Dodge Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Fort Dodge: 899 for 2025, 882 for 2024, 996 for 2023, 1,006 for 2022, 706 for 2021 and 906 for 2020.
Fort Dodge's 899 arrests in 2025 were up 1.9 percent from 882 in 2024.
Through April 2026, Fort Dodge reported 294 arrests, against 296 in the same months of 2025.
Across Webster County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 901 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Fort Dodge Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Fort Dodge 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 73 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 60 beds, and it ran at 122 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Webster County Sheriff's Office at webstercountyia.gov/departments/sheriff/index.php (page title: Webster County Sheriff), phone 515-573-1410, Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Iowa Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.iowa.gov/inmate-family-services.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Fort Dodge
Whether someone was arrested in Fort Dodge, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Iowa District Court for Webster County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at iowacourts.gov/iowa-courts/district-court/judicial-district-2/distr..., phone 515-576-7115); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at webstercountyia.gov/departments/attorney/index.php, phone 515-573-1452).
Statewide, Iowa Courts Online is the Iowa Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
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 Fort Dodge
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. 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 Fort Dodge police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at fortdodge.gov/261/Public-Information-Records-Requests (page title: Public Information & Records Requests | Fort Dodge, IA), phone 515-573-1462, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Webster County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 515-573-1410.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 515-573-1452, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Webster County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 515-576-7115.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Webster County guide covers every agency in the county: Webster County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Fort Dodge each year?
Fort Dodge reported 899 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Fort Dodge?
Ask the Webster County Sheriff's Office at 515-573-1410; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at webstercountyia.gov.
Where are people arrested in Fort Dodge booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Webster County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Fort Dodge?
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 Fort Dodge?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Fort Dodge police for its own arrests, the Webster 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 Fort Dodge 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.