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.
Spirit Lake, Iowa, in Dickinson County, has about 5,500 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 Dickinson 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: Spirit Lake public records, Dickinson County arrest records, Iowa arrest records and Iowa inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Spirit Lake
The FBI lists Spirit Lake with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Spirit Lake Police Department. It reported 131 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 Dickinson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 47 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Spirit Lake 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.
- Spirit Lake: 131 for 2025, 174 for 2024, 174 for 2023, 207 for 2022 and 185 for 2021.
Spirit Lake's 131 arrests in 2025 were down 25 percent from 174 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Spirit Lake reported 99 arrests, against 94 in the same months of 2025.
Across Dickinson County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,341 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Spirit Lake Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Spirit Lake 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 2021 the jail held about 6 people, down from about 11 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 24 beds, and it ran at 46 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Spirit Lake
Whether someone was arrested in Spirit Lake, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Iowa District Court for Dickinson 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-3/distr..., phone 712-336-1138); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at dickinsoncountyiowa.gov/county-attorney, phone 712-336-6333).
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 Spirit Lake
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 Spirit Lake police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at cityofspiritlake.org/services/police-department (page title: Police Department | City of Spirit Lake Iowa), phone 712-336-5776, 1607 Ithaca Avenue Spirit Lake, IA 51360, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Dickinson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 712-336-6333, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Dickinson County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 712-336-1138.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Dickinson County guide covers every agency in the county: Dickinson County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Spirit Lake each year?
Spirit Lake reported 131 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Spirit Lake booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dickinson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Spirit Lake?
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 Spirit Lake?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Spirit Lake police for its own arrests, the Dickinson 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 Spirit Lake 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.