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.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa, has about 94,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office, two 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 Pottawattamie 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: Pottawattamie County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Pottawattamie County
The Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Pottawattamie County. It reported 483 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Council Bluffs, 62,665 residents: 1,696 arrests reported for 2025.
- Carter Lake, 3,752 residents: 276 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.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Pottawattamie County: the Union Pacific Railroad Police (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Pottawattamie 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.
- Council Bluffs: 1,696 for 2025, 1,663 for 2024, 1,733 for 2023, 1,849 for 2022, 1,923 for 2021 and 2,962 for 2020.
- Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office: 483 for 2025, 498 for 2024, 378 for 2023, 654 for 2022, 618 for 2021 and 563 for 2020.
- Carter Lake: 276 for 2024, 228 for 2023, 201 for 2022, 200 for 2021 and 229 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,179 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,179 in 2025 against 2,161 in 2024, up 0.8 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,633 arrests, against 1,216 in the same months of 2025.
Carter Lake reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Pottawattamie County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Pottawattamie 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 2021 the jail held about 150 people, down from about 280 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 288 beds, and it ran at 98 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 Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.pottcounty-ia.gov/jail (page title: Pottawattamie County Jail Division | Council Bluffs, Iowa), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Pottawattamie County
For Pottawattamie 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 Pottawattamie 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 Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Council Bluffs or Carter Lake: 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 the Union Pacific Railroad Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Pottawattamie County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the 14 cities in Pottawattamie County: Council Bluffs and Carter Lake. Avoca, Oakland, Treynor, Underwood, Neola, Carson, Walnut, Crescent, Minden, Macedonia, Hancock and McClelland 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 Pottawattamie County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Pottawattamie County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Council Bluffs (62,665)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Pottawattamie County each year?
Council Bluffs reported 1,696 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,179 between them.
Where are people arrested in Pottawattamie County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Pottawattamie 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 Pottawattamie County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Pottawattamie 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 Pottawattamie 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.