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.
Story County, Iowa, has about 102,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Story County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and one campus 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 Story 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: Story County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Story County
The Story County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Story County. It reported 169 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside four 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:
- Ames, 69,026 residents: 871 arrests reported for 2025.
- Nevada, 7,082 residents: 199 arrests reported for 2019.
- Huxley, 4,737 residents: 27 arrests reported for 2025.
- Story City, 3,439 residents: 30 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 FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Story County: Iowa State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Story 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.
- Ames: 871 for 2025, 916 for 2024, 863 for 2023, 840 for 2022, 696 for 2021 and 903 for 2020.
- Story County Sheriff's Office: 169 for 2025, 175 for 2024, 213 for 2023, 172 for 2022, 240 for 2021 and 384 for 2020.
- Story City: 30 for 2025, 26 for 2024, 45 for 2023, 33 for 2022, 29 for 2021 and 21 for 2020.
- Huxley: 27 for 2025, 33 for 2024, 22 for 2023, 12 for 2022, 24 for 2021 and 13 for 2020.
- Nevada: 199 for 2019.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,097 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,097 in 2025 against 1,150 in 2024, down 4.6 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 840 arrests, against 726 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Story County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Story 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 49 people, down from about 90 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 104 beds, and it ran at 87 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 Story County Sheriff's Office at storycountyiowa.gov/QuickLinks.aspx?CID=135 (page title: Quick Links, Sheriff's Office | Jail), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
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 Story County
Whether someone was arrested in Story County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Iowa District Court for Story County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at storycountyiowa.gov/QuickLinks.aspx?CID=104); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at storycountyiowa.gov/90/County-Attorney, phone (515) 382-7255).
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 Story 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 Story County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Ames, Nevada, Huxley or Story City: 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 Iowa State University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (515) 382-7255, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Story County, through the court records page at storycountyiowa.gov/QuickLinks.aspx?CID=104.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at storycountyiowa.gov/830/Open-Records-Requests (page title: Open Records Requests | Story County, IA).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Story County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the 14 cities in Story County: Ames, Nevada, Huxley and Story City. Slater, Gilbert, Roland, Maxwell, Colo, Cambridge, Zearing, Collins, McCallsburg and Kelley 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 Story County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Story County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Nevada (7,082)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Story County each year?
Ames reported 871 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,097 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Story County?
Ask the Story County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at storycountyiowa.gov/QuickLinks.aspx?CID=135.
Where are people arrested in Story County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Story County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Story 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 Story County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Story 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 storycountyiowa.gov/830/Open-Records-Requests.
Is this the official Story 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.