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.
Dubuque County, Iowa, has about 99,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Dubuque County Sheriff's Office and four 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 Dubuque 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: Dubuque County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Dubuque County
The Dubuque County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Dubuque County. It reported 1,275 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Dubuque County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Dubuque, 58,987 residents: 3,618 arrests reported for 2025.
- Asbury, 6,051 residents: 31 arrests reported for 2025.
- Dyersville, 4,559 residents: 28 arrests reported for 2025.
- Peosta, 2,195 residents: 55 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 Dubuque 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.
- Dubuque: 3,618 for 2025, 3,613 for 2024, 3,589 for 2023, 2,990 for 2022, 2,880 for 2021 and 2,833 for 2020.
- Dubuque County Sheriff's Office: 1,275 for 2025, 1,324 for 2024, 1,539 for 2023, 1,031 for 2022 and 754 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Peosta: 55 for 2025, 39 for 2024, 46 for 2023, 22 for 2021 and 15 for 2020; 2022 is missing months.
- Asbury: 31 for 2025, 28 for 2024, 46 for 2023, 37 for 2022, 25 for 2021 and 20 for 2020.
- Dyersville: 28 for 2025, 40 for 2024, 23 for 2023, 42 for 2022, 39 for 2021 and 57 for 2020.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,007 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,007 in 2025 against 5,044 in 2024, down 0.7 percent.
Through August 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,959 arrests, against 3,371 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dubuque County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Dubuque 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 160 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 212 beds, and it ran at 76 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 Dubuque County Sheriff's Office at dubuquecountyiowa.gov/508/Jail (page title: Jail | Dubuque County, IA), phone 563-589-4400, 770 Iowa St. Dubuque, IA 52001, Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Dubuque County
Whether someone was arrested in Dubuque County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: Iowa Courts Online, the Iowa Judicial Branch's free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at dubuquecountyiowa.gov/164/Attorney, phone (563) 589-4418).
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 Dubuque 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 Dubuque County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 563-589-4400.
- An arrest in Dubuque, Asbury, Dyersville or Peosta: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (563) 589-4418, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Dubuque County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the 21 cities in Dubuque County: Dubuque, Asbury, Dyersville and Peosta. Cascade, Epworth, Farley, New Vienna, Worthington, Holy Cross, Luxemburg, Rickardsville, Sherrill, Bernard, Centralia, Sageville and five more 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 Dubuque County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dubuque County each year?
Dubuque reported 3,618 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,007 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Dubuque County?
Ask the Dubuque County Sheriff's Office at 563-589-4400; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dubuquecountyiowa.gov/508/Jail.
Where are people arrested in Dubuque County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dubuque County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dubuque 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 Dubuque County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dubuque 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 Dubuque 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.