Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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 1, 2026.
Butler County, Iowa, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Butler County Sheriff's Office and one city agency. An arrest 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 Butler County. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Butler County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Butler County
The Butler County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Butler County. It reported 54 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Butler County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Parkersburg, 1,986 residents.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
How Many Arrests The Butler County Sheriff's Office 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.
- Butler County Sheriff's Office: 54 for 2025, 44 for 2024, 29 for 2023, 34 for 2022, 35 for 2021 and 70 for 2020.
The Butler County Sheriff's Office's 54 arrests in 2025 were up 23 percent from 44 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Butler County Sheriff's Office reported 38 arrests, against 29 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Butler County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Butler County 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 4 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 12 beds, and it ran at 33 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 Butler County Sheriff's Office at butlersheriff.org/jail-facilities (page title: Jail Facilities | Butler County Sheriff’s Office), 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 Butler County
For Butler County the place to look is the case index of the Iowa District Court for Butler 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 319-242-3570).
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 Butler County
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 Butler County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Parkersburg: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Butler County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 319-242-3570.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Butler County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the ten cities in Butler County: Parkersburg. Shell Rock, Clarksville, Aplington, Greene, Allison, Dumont, New Hartford, Bristow and Aredale have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Iowa District Court for Butler County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Butler County each year?
The Butler County Sheriff's Office reported 54 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Butler County?
Ask the Butler County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at butlersheriff.org/jail-facilities.
Where are people arrested in Butler County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Butler County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Butler County?
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 Butler County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Butler County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 Butler County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.