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 September 30, 2026.
Clearwater County, Idaho, has about 9,200 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clearwater 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 Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Clearwater County District Court. 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: Clearwater County public records, Idaho arrest records, Idaho inmate search and Idaho criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clearwater County
The Clearwater County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clearwater County. It reported 48 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Clearwater County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Orofino, 3,285 residents: 23 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 Clearwater 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.
- Clearwater County Sheriff's Office: 48 for 2024, 43 for 2022, 52 for 2021 and 28 for 2020; 2023 is missing months.
- Orofino: 23 for 2025, 37 for 2024, 49 for 2023, 20 for 2022, 6 for 2021 and 21 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 85 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 37 in 2024 against 49 in 2023, down 24 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clearwater County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Clearwater 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 2019 the jail held about 16 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 31 beds, and it ran at 52 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 Clearwater County Sheriff's Office at clearwatercounty.org/departments/sheriff/index.php (page title: Welcome to Clearwater County, ID), phone 208-476-4521, 150 Michigan Ave., Orofino, ID 83544, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Idaho Department of Correction lists its inmates at idoc.idaho.gov/content/prisons/resident-client-search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Clearwater County
Whether someone was arrested in Clearwater County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: iCourt Portal, the Idaho courts' free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at clearwatercounty.org/departments/prosecutor/index.php, phone 208-476-5611).
Idaho is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: name-based conviction checks are open to the public, through the Idaho State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification. 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 Clearwater 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 Idaho Public Records Act the agency must answer within 3 working days, or 10 when more time is needed, and it may charge copying after the first 100 pages and labor after the first two hours.
- An arrest by the Clearwater County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 208-476-4521.
- An arrest in Orofino: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 208-476-5611, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Cities in Clearwater County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the four cities in Clearwater County: Orofino. Pierce, Weippe and Elk River 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 Clearwater County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clearwater County each year?
The Clearwater County Sheriff's Office reported 48 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the two agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 85 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Clearwater County?
Ask the Clearwater County Sheriff's Office at 208-476-4521; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at clearwatercounty.org.
Where are people arrested in Clearwater County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clearwater County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clearwater County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Idaho State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification: name-based conviction checks are open to the public. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Idaho Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Clearwater County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clearwater County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Idaho Public Records Act the answer is due within 3 working days, or 10 when more time is needed.
Is this the official Clearwater 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.