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.
Nez Perce County, Idaho, has about 43,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Nez Perce 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 Nez Perce 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: Nez Perce County public records, Idaho arrest records, Idaho inmate search and Idaho criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Nez Perce County
The Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Nez Perce County. It reported 779 arrests for 2025.
One city in Nez Perce County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Lewiston, 34,693 residents: 1,341 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 Nez Perce 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.
- Lewiston: 1,341 for 2025, 1,457 for 2024, 1,574 for 2023, 1,710 for 2022, 1,501 for 2021 and 1,034 for 2020.
- Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office: 779 for 2025, 700 for 2024, 739 for 2022, 630 for 2021, 513 for 2020 and 686 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,120 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,120 in 2025 against 2,157 in 2024, down 1.7 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,288 arrests, against 1,439 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Nez Perce County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Nez Perce 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 2023 the jail held about 140 people, up from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 165 beds, and it ran at 85 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office at co.nezperce.id.us/Elected-Officials/Sheriff/In-Custody (page title: In Custody, Nez Perce County Sheriff), phone 208-799-3132, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Nez Perce County
Whether someone was arrested in Nez Perce County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Nez Perce County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at co.nezperce.id.us/Elected-Officials/Clerk-Auditor/District-Court/Ci..., phone 208-743-1535); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.nezperce.id.us/Elected-Officials/Prosecutor, phone 208-799-3195).
Statewide, iCourt Portal is the Idaho courts' free statewide case search.
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 Nez Perce 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 Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 208-799-3132.
- An arrest in Lewiston: 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 Prosecuting Attorney, 208-799-3195, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Nez Perce County District Court, through the court records page at co.nezperce.id.us, phone 208-743-1535.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Cities in Nez Perce County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the four cities in Nez Perce County: Lewiston. Lapwai, Culdesac and Peck 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 Nez Perce County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Nez Perce County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Lewiston (34,693)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Nez Perce County each year?
Lewiston reported 1,341 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,120 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Nez Perce County?
Look on the custody page of the Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office at co.nezperce.id.us, or call 208-799-3132. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Nez Perce County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Nez Perce 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 Nez Perce County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Nez Perce 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 Nez Perce 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.