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 2, 2026.
Greene County, Iowa, has about 8,700 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Greene 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 Greene 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: Greene County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Greene County
The Greene County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Greene County. It reported 35 arrests for 2025.
One city in Greene County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Jefferson, 4,148 residents: 57 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 Greene 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.
- Jefferson: 57 for 2025, 45 for 2024, 74 for 2020 and 87 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Greene County Sheriff's Office: 35 for 2025, 36 for 2024, 40 for 2023 and 45 for 2022.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 92 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 92 in 2025 against 81 in 2024, up 14 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 76 arrests, against 58 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Greene County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Greene 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 8 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 8 beds, and it ran at 100 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 Greene County Sheriff's Office at greenecounty.iowa.gov/pview.aspx?id=15462&catid=0 (page title: Sheriff | Greene County IA), phone 515-386-2136, 114 N. Chestnut Street Jefferson, IA 50129, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Greene County
For Greene County the place to look is Iowa Courts Online, the Iowa Judicial Branch's free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed.
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 Greene 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 Greene County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 515-386-2136.
- An arrest in Jefferson: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at greenecountyoh.nextrequest.com (page title: Public Records RequestsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Greene County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the seven cities in Greene County: Jefferson. Grand Junction, Scranton, Churdan, Paton, Rippey and Dana 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 Greene County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Greene County each year?
Jefferson reported 57 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 92 between them.
Where are people arrested in Greene County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Greene County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Greene 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 Greene County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Greene 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at greenecountyoh.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Greene 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.