SearchSystems Editorial

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.

About this guide

Polk County, Iowa, has about 516,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Polk County Sheriff's Office, 11 city agencies and one other 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 Polk 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: Polk County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Polk County

The Polk County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Polk County. It reported 1,458 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside 11 of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:

  • Des Moines, 213,096 residents: 6,633 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Ankeny, 76,727 residents: 990 arrests reported for 2025.
  • West Des Moines, 73,664 residents: 1,100 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Urbandale, 47,759 residents: 686 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Johnston, 25,022 residents: 444 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Altoona, 22,598 residents: 624 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Clive, 19,508 residents: 414 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Pleasant Hill, 11,942 residents: 141 arrests reported for 2021.
  • Polk City, 6,430 residents: 97 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Windsor Heights, 5,106 residents: 260 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Mitchellville, 2,686 residents: 18 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.

The Carlisle Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Polk County, so its arrests are not broken out for Polk County here.

The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Polk County: Polk County Conservation Law Enforcement (other).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Polk 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.

  • Des Moines: 6,633 for 2025, 4,847 for 2021, 7,230 for 2020 and 8,947 for 2019; 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
  • Polk County Sheriff's Office: 1,458 for 2025, 1,394 for 2024, 1,143 for 2023, 1,140 for 2022, 2,416 for 2021 and 2,132 for 2020.
  • West Des Moines: 1,100 for 2025, 1,293 for 2024, 1,529 for 2023, 1,424 for 2022, 1,527 for 2020 and 1,645 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Ankeny: 990 for 2025, 1,079 for 2024, 935 for 2023, 816 for 2022, 781 for 2021 and 914 for 2020.
  • Urbandale: 686 for 2025, 649 for 2024, 665 for 2023, 597 for 2022, 536 for 2021 and 591 for 2020.
  • Johnston: 444 for 2025, 393 for 2024, 369 for 2023, 225 for 2022, 328 for 2021 and 434 for 2020.
  • Clive: 414 for 2025, 486 for 2024, 415 for 2023, 430 for 2022, 339 for 2021 and 414 for 2020.
  • Windsor Heights: 260 for 2025, 245 for 2024, 204 for 2023, 245 for 2022, 200 for 2021 and 247 for 2020.
  • Polk City: 97 for 2025, 128 for 2024, 94 for 2023, 67 for 2022, 52 for 2021 and 96 for 2020.
  • Mitchellville: 18 for 2025, 7 for 2024 and 6 for 2023.
  • Altoona: 624 for 2024, 594 for 2023, 352 for 2022, 553 for 2021, 611 for 2020 and 779 for 2019.
  • Pleasant Hill: 141 for 2021, 292 for 2020 and 262 for 2019.

Together, the ten agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 12,100 arrests that year. The nine of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,467 in 2025 against 5,674 in 2024, down 3.6 percent.

Through August 2026, the ten agencies with every month so far on file reported 8,363 arrests, against 8,196 in the same months of 2025.

Pleasant Hill and Altoona reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Polk County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Polk 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 2024 the jail held about 950 people, down from about 1,030 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,120 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 Polk County Sheriff's Office at polkinmates.polkcountyiowa.gov (page title: Jail & Arrest Information | Polk Inmates), 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 Polk County

An arrest in Polk County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: 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 polkcountyiowa.gov/county-attorney).

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 Polk 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 Polk County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Des Moines, Ankeny, West Des Moines, Urbandale, Johnston, Altoona or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
  • An arrest by Polk County Conservation Law Enforcement: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in Polk County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 11 of the 17 cities in Polk County: Des Moines, Ankeny, West Des Moines, Urbandale, Johnston, Altoona, Clive, Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Windsor Heights and Mitchellville. Grimes, Bondurant, Elkhart, Runnells, Alleman and Sheldahl 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 Polk County.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Polk County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Polk County each year?

Des Moines reported 6,633 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the ten agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 12,100 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Polk County?

Ask the Polk County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at polkinmates.polkcountyiowa.gov.

Where are people arrested in Polk County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Polk County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Polk 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 Polk County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Polk 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 Polk 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.