Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 23, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Brainerd, Minnesota, in Crow Wing County, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city 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 Crow Wing County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Brainerd public records, Crow Wing County arrest records, Minnesota arrest records and Minnesota inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Brainerd
The FBI lists Brainerd with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Brainerd Police Department. It reported 849 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 187 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Crow Wing County: the State Patrol at Brainerd (state police).
How Many Arrests Brainerd Reports
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.
- Brainerd: 849 for 2025, 820 for 2024, 764 for 2023, 829 for 2022, 804 for 2021 and 750 for 2020.
Brainerd's 849 arrests in 2025 were up 3.5 percent from 820 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Brainerd reported 463 arrests, against 643 in the same months of 2025.
Across Crow Wing County, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,516 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Brainerd Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Brainerd 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 2021 the jail held about 85 people, down from about 190 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 276 beds, and it ran at 70 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 Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office at crowwing.gov/1532/In-Custody-List (page title: In Custody List | Crow Wing County, MN), 213 Laurel Street, Brainerd, MN 56401, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Brainerd
Whether someone was arrested in Brainerd, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; Minnesota Court Records Online, the Minnesota 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 crowwing.gov/522/Adult-Prosecution, phone 218-828-2311).
Minnesota is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the public criminal history search online is free and shows 15 years of convictions, through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. 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 Brainerd
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 Minnesota Government Data Practices Act the agency must answer promptly, within a reasonable time, and it may charge copying, and staff time for requests over 100 pages.
- An arrest by the Brainerd police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at brainerdmn.gov/238/Records-Management (page title: Records Management | Brainerd, MN), phone 218-829-2805, 225 E River Road Brainerd, MN 56401, Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. - 4:30p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 218-828-2311, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at crowwing.gov/1722/Data-Practices-Requests (page title: Data Practices Requests | Crow Wing County, MN).
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
The Crow Wing County guide covers every agency in the county: Crow Wing County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Brainerd each year?
Brainerd reported 849 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Brainerd?
Look on the custody page of the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office at crowwing.gov/1532/In-Custody-List. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Brainerd booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Brainerd?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension: the public criminal history search online is free and shows 15 years of convictions. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Brainerd?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Brainerd police for its own arrests, the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act the answer is due promptly, within a reasonable time; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at crowwing.gov/1722/Data-Practices-Requests.
Is this the official Brainerd website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.