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 September 30, 2026.
Hamilton County, Iowa, has about 15,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hamilton 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 Hamilton 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: Hamilton County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hamilton County
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hamilton County. It reported 122 arrests for 2025.
One city in Hamilton County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Webster City, 7,763 residents: 273 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Hamilton 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.
- Webster City: 273 for 2024, 299 for 2023, 273 for 2022, 274 for 2021, 267 for 2020 and 397 for 2019.
- Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: 122 for 2025, 139 for 2024, 46 for 2020 and 151 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 412 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 273 in 2024 against 299 in 2023, down 8.7 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hamilton County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hamilton County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 15 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 55 beds, and it ran at 27 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at hcso.org/justice-center-services/inmate-search (page title: Hamilton County Justice Center | Inmate Search | Hamilton County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Hamilton County
Whether someone was arrested in Hamilton County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Iowa District Court for Hamilton County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncounty.iowa.gov/departments/clerk_of_court/index.php, phone 515-832-9600); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at hamiltoncounty.iowa.gov/departments/attorney/index.php, phone 515-832-9580).
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 Hamilton 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 Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Webster City: 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, 515-832-9580, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Hamilton County, through the court records page at hamiltoncounty.iowa.gov, phone 515-832-9600.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncountyin.nextrequest.com (page title: Open Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Hamilton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the nine cities in Hamilton County: Webster City. Jewell Junction, Stratford, Ellsworth, Stanhope, Williams, Kamrar, Blairsburg and Randall 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 Hamilton County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Hamilton County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Webster City (7,763)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hamilton County each year?
Webster City reported 273 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the two agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 412 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hamilton County?
Look on the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at hcso.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Hamilton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hamilton 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 Hamilton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hamilton 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 hamiltoncountyin.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Hamilton 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.