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 2024. 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 30, 2026.
Webster City, Iowa, in Hamilton County, has about 7,800 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 Hamilton 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: Webster City public records, Hamilton County arrest records, Iowa arrest records and Iowa inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Webster City
The FBI lists Webster City with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Webster City Police Department. It reported 273 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year. 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 Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 122 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Webster City 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.
- Webster City: 273 for 2024, 299 for 2023, 273 for 2022, 274 for 2021, 267 for 2020 and 397 for 2019.
Webster City's 273 arrests in 2024 were down 8.7 percent from 299 in 2023.
Across Hamilton County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 412 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Webster City Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Webster City 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 15 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 55 beds, and it ran at 27 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 Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at hcso.org/justice-center-services/inmate-search (page title: Hamilton County Justice Center | Inmate Search | Hamilton County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Webster City
Whether someone was arrested in Webster City, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Iowa District Court for Hamilton County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncounty.iowa.gov/departments/clerk_of_court/index.php, phone 515-832-9600); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at hamiltoncounty.iowa.gov/departments/attorney/index.php, phone 515-832-9580).
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 Webster City
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 Webster City police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at webstercity.com/177/Police-Department (page title: Police Department | Webster City, IA), phone 515-832-8636, 400 Second Street Webster City, IA 50595, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 515-832-9580, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Hamilton County, through the court records page at hamiltoncounty.iowa.gov, phone 515-832-9600.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncountyin.nextrequest.com (page title: Open Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Hamilton County guide covers every agency in the county: Hamilton County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Webster City each year?
Webster City reported 273 arrests to the FBI for 2024, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Webster City?
Look on the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at hcso.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Webster City booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Webster City?
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 Webster City?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Webster City police for its own arrests, the Hamilton 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncountyin.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Webster City 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.