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.
Lake City, Minnesota, in Wabasha County, has about 5,300 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 Wabasha 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: Lake City public records, Wabasha County arrest records, Minnesota arrest records and Minnesota inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Lake City
The FBI lists Lake City with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Lake City Police Department. It reported 109 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 Wabasha County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 50 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Lake City Reports
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.
- Lake City: 109 for 2025, 121 for 2024, 93 for 2023, 95 for 2022, 104 for 2021 and 122 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Lake City's 109 arrests in 2025 were down 9.9 percent from 121 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Lake City reported 72 arrests, against 80 in the same months of 2025.
Across Wabasha County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 269 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lake City Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lake City 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 2021 the jail held about 10 people, down from about 20 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 72 beds, and it ran at 28 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 Wabasha County Sheriff's Office at roster.assurances.gov.gh/wabasha-county-jail-roster.html (page title: Wabasha County Jail Roster), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 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 Lake City
Whether someone was arrested in Lake City, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Wabasha 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 co.wabasha.mn.us/departments/county_attorney/index.php).
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 Lake City
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 Lake City police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at ci.lake-city.mn.us/vertical/sites/%7B95AE24C2-7B77-4EE6-9D85-64F563... (page title: Data Request Form | City of Lake City, Minnesota), phone 651-345-3391, 601 North 10th Street ⋅ Lake City MN 55041, Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 4:30 PM, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Wabasha County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
The Wabasha County guide covers every agency in the county: Wabasha County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lake City each year?
Lake City reported 109 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lake City?
Look on the custody page of the Wabasha County Sheriff's Office at roster.assurances.gov.gh. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Lake City booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Wabasha County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lake City?
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 Lake City?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lake City police for its own arrests, the Wabasha County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act the answer is due promptly, within a reasonable time.
Is this the official Lake City 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.