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 4, 2026.
Union County, Iowa, has about 12,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Union 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 Union 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: Union County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Union County
The Union County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Union County. It reported 55 arrests for 2025.
One city in Union County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Creston, 7,421 residents: 282 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Union 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.
- Creston: 282 for 2025, 403 for 2024, 240 for 2023, 254 for 2022, 332 for 2021 and 220 for 2020.
- Union County Sheriff's Office: 55 for 2025, 61 for 2024, 54 for 2023, 49 for 2022, 46 for 2021 and 17 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 337 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 337 in 2025 against 464 in 2024, down 27 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 143 arrests, against 195 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Union County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Union 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 2019 the jail held about 11 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 11 beds, and it ran at 100 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 Union County Sheriff's Office at unioncountyiowa.gov/departments/sheriffs-office/jail (page title: Union County Jail | Union County, Iowa), phone (641) 782-7717, 302 N. Pine St. Creston, IA 50801, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Union County
Whether someone was arrested in Union County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Iowa District Court for Union County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at iowacourts.state.ia.us/ESAWebApp/SelectFrame); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at unioncountyiowa.gov/departments/attorney, phone (641) 782-1730).
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 Union 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 Union County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (641) 782-7717.
- An arrest in Creston: 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) 782-1730, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Union County, through the court records page at iowacourts.state.ia.us/ESAWebApp/SelectFrame.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Union County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the seven cities in Union County: Creston. Afton, Lorimor, Cromwell, Arispe, Shannon City and Thayer 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 Union County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Union County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Creston (7,421)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Union County each year?
Creston reported 282 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 337 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Union County?
Ask the Union County Sheriff's Office at (641) 782-7717; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at unioncountyiowa.gov.
Where are people arrested in Union County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Union County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Union 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 Union County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Union 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 Union 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.