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.
Guthrie County, Iowa, has about 11,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Guthrie 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 Guthrie 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: Guthrie County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Guthrie County
The Guthrie County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Guthrie County. It reported 58 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Guthrie County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Panora, 1,096 residents: 8 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 Guthrie 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.
- Guthrie County Sheriff's Office: 58 for 2025, 69 for 2024, 80 for 2023, 39 for 2020 and 34 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Panora: 8 for 2025, 5 for 2024 and 25 for 2023.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 66 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 66 in 2025 against 74 in 2024, down 11 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 52 arrests, against 49 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Guthrie County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Guthrie 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 7 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 8 beds, and it ran at 88 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 Guthrie County Sheriff's Office at guthriecounty.gov/sheriff/jail_information (page title: Jail | Sheriff’s Office | Guthrie County Government | Iowa), 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 Guthrie County
For Guthrie County the place to look is the case index of the Iowa District Court for Guthrie 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-5/distr..., phone 641-747-3415).
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 Guthrie 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 Guthrie County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Panora: 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 Guthrie County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 641-747-3415.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Guthrie County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the nine cities in Guthrie County: Panora. Stuart, Guthrie Center, Bayard, Casey, Menlo, Yale, Bagley and Jamaica 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 Guthrie County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Guthrie County each year?
The Guthrie County Sheriff's Office reported 58 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 66 between them.
Where are people arrested in Guthrie County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Guthrie County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Guthrie 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 Guthrie County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Guthrie 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 Guthrie 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.