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.
Webster County, Iowa, has about 37,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Webster County Sheriff's Office and two city agencies. 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 Webster 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: Webster County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Webster County
The Webster County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Webster County. It reported 128 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists two cities in Webster County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Fort Dodge, 24,886 residents: 899 arrests reported for 2025.
- Gowrie, 943 residents: 2 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 Webster 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.
- Fort Dodge: 899 for 2025, 882 for 2024, 996 for 2023, 1,006 for 2022, 706 for 2021 and 906 for 2020.
- Gowrie: 2 for 2025, 8 for 2024 and 5 for 2023.
- Webster County Sheriff's Office: 128 for 2024, 140 for 2023, 158 for 2022, 136 for 2021, 106 for 2020 and 111 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 901 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 901 in 2025 against 890 in 2024, up 1.2 percent.
Through April 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 295 arrests, against 298 in the same months of 2025.
Webster County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Webster County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Webster 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 73 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 60 beds, and it ran at 122 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 Webster County Sheriff's Office at webstercountyia.gov/departments/sheriff/index.php (page title: Webster County Sheriff), phone 515-573-1410, Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., 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 Webster County
An arrest in Webster County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Iowa District Court for Webster County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at iowacourts.gov/iowa-courts/district-court/judicial-district-2/distr..., phone 515-576-7115); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at webstercountyia.gov/departments/attorney/index.php, phone 515-573-1452).
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 Webster 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 Webster County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 515-573-1410.
- An arrest in Fort Dodge or Gowrie: 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, 515-573-1452, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Webster County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 515-576-7115.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Webster County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the 13 cities in Webster County: Fort Dodge and Gowrie. Dayton, Badger, Otho, Lehigh, Duncombe, Callender, Harcourt, Barnum, Moorland, Clare and Vincent 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 Webster County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Webster County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Fort Dodge (24,886)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Webster County each year?
Fort Dodge reported 899 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 901 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Webster County?
Ask the Webster County Sheriff's Office at 515-573-1410; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at webstercountyia.gov.
Where are people arrested in Webster County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Webster County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Webster 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 Webster County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Webster 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 Webster 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.