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.
Delaware County, Iowa, has about 18,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Delaware 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 Delaware 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: Delaware County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Delaware County
The Delaware County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Delaware County. It reported 171 arrests for 2025.
One city in Delaware County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Manchester, 5,283 residents: 181 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.
The Dyersville Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Delaware County, so its arrests are not broken out for Delaware County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Delaware County
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.
- Manchester: 181 for 2025, 177 for 2024, 249 for 2023, 226 for 2022, 124 for 2021 and 137 for 2020.
- Delaware County Sheriff's Office: 171 for 2025, 145 for 2024, 176 for 2023, 183 for 2022, 188 for 2021 and 134 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 352 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 352 in 2025 against 322 in 2024, up 9.3 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 194 arrests, against 240 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Delaware County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Delaware 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 16 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 12 beds, and it ran at 133 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 Delaware County Sheriff's Office at delawarecounty.iowa.gov/jail-division (page title: Delaware County Iowa | Sheriff), phone 563-927-3135, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
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 Delaware County
Whether someone was arrested in Delaware County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Iowa District Court for Delaware 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-1/distr..., phone 563-927-4942); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at delawarecounty.iowa.gov/attorney, phone (563) 927-3819).
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 Delaware 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 Delaware County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 563-927-3135.
- An arrest in Manchester: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (563) 927-3819, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Delaware County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 563-927-4942.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Delaware County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the 11 cities in Delaware County: Manchester. Edgewood, Earlville, Hopkinton, Delhi, Colesburg, Ryan, Greeley, Dundee, Delaware and Masonville 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 Delaware County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Delaware County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Manchester (5,283)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Delaware County each year?
Manchester reported 181 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 352 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Delaware County?
Ask the Delaware County Sheriff's Office at 563-927-3135; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at delawarecounty.iowa.gov/jail-division.
Where are people arrested in Delaware County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Delaware County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Delaware 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 Delaware County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Delaware 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 Delaware 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.