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.
Wapello County, Iowa, has about 36,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Wapello County Sheriff's Office, one city agency 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 Wapello 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: Wapello County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Wapello County
The Wapello County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Wapello County. It reported 277 arrests for 2025.
One city in Wapello County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Ottumwa, 25,648 residents: 1,600 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 Wapello County: Southeast Iowa Interagency Drug Task Force (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Wapello 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.
- Ottumwa: 1,600 for 2025, 1,792 for 2024, 1,670 for 2023, 2,151 for 2022, 2,255 for 2021 and 2,204 for 2020.
- Wapello County Sheriff's Office: 277 for 2025, 289 for 2024, 333 for 2023, 281 for 2022, 226 for 2021 and 289 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,877 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,877 in 2025 against 2,081 in 2024, down 9.8 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,108 arrests, against 1,321 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Wapello County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Wapello 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 100 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 104 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 Wapello County Sheriff's Office at wapellocounty.org/sheriff_and_jail/inmates (page title: Inmates & VINE | Sheriff and Jail | Wapello County, Iowa), phone 866-700-4545, 101 W. 4th St Ottumwa, IA 52501, 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 Wapello County
Whether someone was arrested in Wapello County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: 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 wapellocounty.org/attorney, phone 641-683-0030).
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 Wapello 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 Wapello County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 866-700-4545.
- An arrest in Ottumwa: 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 Southeast Iowa Interagency Drug Task Force: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 641-683-0030, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Wapello County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the seven cities in Wapello County: Ottumwa. Eddyville, Eldon, Agency, Blakesburg, Kirkville and Chillicothe 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 Wapello County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Wapello County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Ottumwa (25,648)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Wapello County each year?
Ottumwa reported 1,600 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,877 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Wapello County?
Ask the Wapello County Sheriff's Office at 866-700-4545; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at wapellocounty.org/sheriff_and_jail/inmates.
Where are people arrested in Wapello County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Wapello County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Wapello 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 Wapello County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Wapello 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 Wapello 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.