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 4, 2026.
Clay County, Iowa, has about 16,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clay 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 Clay 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: Clay County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clay County
The Clay County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clay County. It reported 143 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
One city in Clay County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Spencer, 11,418 residents: 279 arrests reported for 2025.
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 Each Agency Reports in Clay County
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.
- Spencer: 279 for 2025, 330 for 2023, 314 for 2022, 305 for 2021, 384 for 2020 and 468 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Clay County Sheriff's Office: 143 for 2024, 200 for 2023, 196 for 2022, 203 for 2021, 182 for 2020 and 248 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 530 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2023 and 2022 complete reported 530 in 2023 against 510 in 2022, up 3.9 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clay County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Clay County 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 13 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 21 beds, and it ran at 62 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 Clay County Sheriff's Office at claycounty.iowa.gov/sheriff/jail-division (page title: Jail Division | Clay County, Iowa), phone (712) 264-4242, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Clay County
For Clay County the place to look is the case index of the Iowa District Court for Clay County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at iowacourts.state.ia.us/ESAWebApp/SelectFrame).
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 Clay County
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 Clay County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (712) 264-4242.
- An arrest in Spencer: 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 Clay County, through the court records page at iowacourts.state.ia.us/ESAWebApp/SelectFrame.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Clay County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the ten cities in Clay County: Spencer. Everly, Royal, Peterson, Fostoria, Dickens, Webb, Greenville, Rossie and Gillett Grove 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 Clay County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clay County each year?
Spencer reported 279 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2023, the latest year most of the agencies in Clay County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 530 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Clay County?
Ask the Clay County Sheriff's Office at (712) 264-4242; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at claycounty.iowa.gov/sheriff/jail-division.
Where are people arrested in Clay County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clay County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clay 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 Clay County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clay 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 Clay 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.