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.
Waverly, Iowa, in Bremer County, has about 11,000 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 Bremer 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: Waverly public records, Bremer County arrest records, Iowa arrest records and Iowa inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Waverly
The FBI lists Waverly with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Waverly Police Department. It reported 146 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 Bremer County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 117 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Waverly 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.
- Waverly: 146 for 2025, 146 for 2024, 195 for 2023, 219 for 2022, 244 for 2021 and 137 for 2020.
Through August 2026, Waverly reported 89 arrests, against 89 in the same months of 2025.
Across Bremer County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 274 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Waverly Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Waverly 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 68 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 70 beds, and it ran at 97 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 Waverly
For Waverly the place to look is the case index of the Iowa District Court for Bremer 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 319-352-5661).
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 Waverly
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 Waverly police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at waverlyia.com/faq/police-department (page title: Frequently Asked Questions | The City of Waverly), phone 319-352-5400, months. May drive without supervision from 5 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Bremer County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Bremer County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 319-352-5661.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Bremer County guide covers every agency in the county: Bremer County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Waverly each year?
Waverly reported 146 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Waverly booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bremer County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Waverly?
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 Waverly?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Waverly police for its own arrests, the Bremer 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 Waverly 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.