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 on September 24, 2026.
Dickinson County, Iowa, has about 18,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Dickinson County Sheriff's Office and two city agencies. 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 Dickinson 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: Dickinson County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Dickinson County
The Dickinson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Dickinson County. It reported 47 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Spirit Lake, 5,548 residents: 131 arrests reported for 2025.
- Arnolds Park, 1,214 residents: 1,163 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 Dickinson 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.
- Arnolds Park: 1,163 for 2025, 1,151 for 2024, 1,136 for 2023, 1,125 for 2022, 1,125 for 2021 and 1,155 for 2020.
- Spirit Lake: 131 for 2025, 174 for 2024, 174 for 2023, 207 for 2022 and 185 for 2021.
- Dickinson County Sheriff's Office: 47 for 2025, 60 for 2024, 117 for 2020 and 118 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,341 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,341 in 2025 against 1,385 in 2024, down 3.2 percent.
Through June 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 676 arrests, against 667 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dickinson County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Dickinson 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 2021 the jail held about 6 people, down from about 11 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 24 beds, and it ran at 46 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 Dickinson County
Whether someone was arrested in Dickinson County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Iowa District Court for Dickinson 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-3/distr..., phone 712-336-1138); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at dickinsoncountyiowa.gov/county-attorney, phone 712-336-6333).
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 Dickinson 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 Dickinson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Spirit Lake or Arnolds Park: 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, 712-336-6333, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Dickinson County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 712-336-1138.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Dickinson County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the ten cities in Dickinson County: Spirit Lake and Arnolds Park. Milford, Lake Park, Okoboji, Orleans, Wahpeton, West Okoboji, Terril and Superior 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 Dickinson County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Dickinson County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Spirit Lake (5,548)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dickinson County each year?
Arnolds Park reported 1,163 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,341 between them.
Where are people arrested in Dickinson County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dickinson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dickinson 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 Dickinson County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dickinson 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 Dickinson 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.