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 9, 2026.
Marshall County, Iowa, has about 40,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Marshall 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 Marshall 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: Marshall County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Marshall County
The Marshall County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Marshall County. It reported 382 arrests for 2021, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists two cities in Marshall County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Marshalltown, 27,886 residents: 902 arrests reported for 2025.
- State Center, 1,403 residents.
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 Marshalltown Reports
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.
- Marshalltown: 902 for 2025, 937 for 2024, 1,130 for 2023, 991 for 2022, 950 for 2021 and 1,076 for 2020.
- Marshall County Sheriff's Office: 382 for 2021, 512 for 2020 and 614 for 2019.
Marshalltown's 902 arrests in 2025 were down 3.7 percent from 937 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Marshalltown reported 520 arrests, against 619 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Marshall County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Marshall 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 2023 the jail held about 110 people, down from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 157 beds, and it ran at 69 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 Marshall County Sheriff's Office at sheriffmarshallcounty.org/current-inmate-roster (page title: Private Site), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 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 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 Marshall County
Whether someone was arrested in Marshall County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Marshall County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Iowa District Court for Marshall 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-2/distr..., phone 641-754-1603); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at marshallcountyia.gov/attorney, phone 641-754-6314).
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 Marshall 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 Marshall County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Marshalltown or State Center: 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, 641-754-6314, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Marshall County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 641-754-1603.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Marshall County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Marshall County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the 13 cities in Marshall County: Marshalltown and State Center. Le Grand, Melbourne, Gilman, Albion, Liscomb, Rhodes, Laurel, Haverhill, Clemons, Ferguson and St. Anthony 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 Marshall County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Marshall County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Marshalltown (27,886)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Marshall County each year?
Marshalltown reported 902 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Marshall County?
Look on the custody page of the Marshall County Sheriff's Office at sheriffmarshallcounty.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Marshall County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Marshall County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Marshall 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 Marshall County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Marshall 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 Marshall 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.