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 September 26, 2026.
Oskaloosa, Iowa, in Mahaska County, has about 12,000 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 Mahaska 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: Oskaloosa public records, Mahaska County arrest records, Iowa arrest records and Iowa inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Oskaloosa
The FBI lists Oskaloosa with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Oskaloosa Police Department. It reported 345 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 Mahaska County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 92 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Oskaloosa 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.
- Oskaloosa: 345 for 2025, 324 for 2024, 397 for 2023, 332 for 2022, 348 for 2021 and 354 for 2020.
Oskaloosa's 345 arrests in 2025 were up 6.5 percent from 324 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Oskaloosa reported 184 arrests, against 238 in the same months of 2025.
Across Mahaska County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 437 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Oskaloosa Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Oskaloosa is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 28 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 41 beds, and it ran at 68 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 Mahaska County Sheriff's Office at mahaskacountyia.gov/sheriff/jail (page title: Jail | Mahaska County, Iowa), phone 800-896-3201, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Oskaloosa
Whether someone was arrested in Oskaloosa, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Iowa District Court for Mahaska County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at mahaskacountyia.gov/clerk_of_court, phone (641) 673-7786); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at mahaskacountyia.gov/attorney, phone (641) 673-9819).
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 Oskaloosa
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 Oskaloosa police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at oskaloosaiowa.org/277/Records-Reports (page title: Records and Reports | Oskaloosa, IA), phone (641) 673-8275, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Mahaska County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 800-896-3201.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (641) 673-9819, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Mahaska County, through the court records page at mahaskacountyia.gov/clerk_of_court, phone (641) 673-7786.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Mahaska County guide covers every agency in the county: Mahaska County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Oskaloosa each year?
Oskaloosa reported 345 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Oskaloosa?
Ask the Mahaska County Sheriff's Office at 800-896-3201; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at mahaskacountyia.gov/sheriff/jail.
Where are people arrested in Oskaloosa booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Mahaska County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Oskaloosa?
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 Oskaloosa?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Oskaloosa police for its own arrests, the Mahaska 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 Oskaloosa 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.