Jo Daviess County Arrest Records: Who Makes Arrests, Where People Are Booked and How to Get the Report

Who Makes Arrests in Jo Daviess County

The Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Jo Daviess County. It reported 149 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside seven of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:

• Galena, 3,207 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2020.
• Stockton, 1,668 residents: 20 arrests reported for 2025.
• East Dubuque, 1,457 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2019.
• Warren, 1,276 residents: 7 arrests reported for 2025.
• Hanover, 828 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
• Elizabeth, 688 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2024.
• Apple River, 333 residents: 1,152 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 Jo Daviess 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.

• Apple River: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
• Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Office: 149 for 2025, 121 for 2024 and 102 for 2023.
• Stockton: 20 for 2025, 11 for 2024, 19 for 2023, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
• Warren: 7 for 2025, 11 for 2024 and 0 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
• Hanover: 0 for 2025 and 2 for 2024.
• Galena: 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.
• Elizabeth: 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
• East Dubuque: 0 for 2019.

Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,328 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,328 in 2025 against 1,297 in 2024, up 2.4 percent.

Through June 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 596 arrests, against 668 in the same months of 2025.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Jo Daviess County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Jo Daviess 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 9 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 22 beds, and it ran at 41 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 Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Office at jodaviesscountyil.gov/1254/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Jo Daviess County, IL), phone 815-777-2141, 330 North Bench Street Public Safety Building Galena, IL 61036, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.

A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Illinois Department of Corrections lists its inmates at idoc.illinois.gov/offender/inmatesearch.html.

How to Find Out About an Arrest in Jo Daviess County

An arrest in Jo Daviess County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Circuit Court of Jo Daviess County, kept by the Circuit Clerk, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at jodaviesscountyil.gov/1264/States-Attorney, phone 815-777-0109).

The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov/courts-directory/21/Jo-Daviess-County-Courthouse... (page title: Jo Daviess County Courthouse | State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts), phone (815) 777-0037, belongs to a lower court, not to the Circuit Court of Jo Daviess County.

Illinois is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act, through the Illinois State Police. 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 Jo Daviess 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 Illinois Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension, and it may charge copying only after the first 50 pages.

• An arrest by the Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 815-777-2141.
• An arrest in Galena, Stockton, East Dubuque, Warren, Hanover, Elizabeth or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
• A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 815-777-0109, handles discovery for pending cases.
• The court file of a case that was filed: in the Circuit Court of Jo Daviess County it is kept by the Circuit Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov, phone (815) 777-0037, is a lower court's.
• Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.

Cities in Jo Daviess County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for seven of the ten cities in Jo Daviess County: Galena, Stockton, East Dubuque, Warren, Hanover, Elizabeth and Apple River. Scales Mound, Menominee and Nora 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 Circuit Court of Jo Daviess County.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Jo Daviess County each year?

Apple River reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,328 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Jo Daviess County?

Ask the Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Office at 815-777-2141; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at jodaviesscountyil.gov/1254/Sheriff.

Where are people arrested in Jo Daviess County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Jo Daviess County?

The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Jo Daviess County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension.

Is this the official Jo Daviess 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.