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.
Mankato, Minnesota, in Blue Earth County, has about 46,000 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 Blue Earth 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: Mankato public records, Blue Earth County arrest records, Minnesota arrest records and Minnesota inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Mankato
The FBI lists Mankato with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Mankato Police Department. It reported 2,356 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 Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 677 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Blue Earth County: the State Patrol at Mankato (state police).
How Many Arrests Mankato 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.
- Mankato: 2,356 for 2025, 2,430 for 2024, 2,351 for 2023, 2,162 for 2022, 2,205 for 2021 and 2,211 for 2020.
Mankato's 2,356 arrests in 2025 were down 3 percent from 2,430 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Mankato reported 1,414 arrests, against 1,780 in the same months of 2025.
Across Blue Earth County, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,104 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Mankato Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Mankato 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 78 people, down from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 132 beds, and it ran at 83 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 Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office at blueearthcountymn.gov/321/Jail (page title: Blue Earth County Jail | Blue Earth County, MN), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 429), so open it in a browser.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Mankato
Whether someone was arrested in Mankato, and what came of it, shows up in two places: 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 blueearthcountymn.gov/610/Duties-of-the-County-Attorney, phone (507) 304-4600).
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 Mankato
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Mankato police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at mankatomn.gov/residents/public-safety (page title: Public Safety | Mankato, MN), phone (507) 387-8780, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (507) 304-4600, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
The Blue Earth County guide covers every agency in the county: Blue Earth County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Mankato each year?
Mankato reported 2,356 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Mankato booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Mankato?
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 Mankato?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Mankato police for its own arrests, the Blue Earth 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 Mankato 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.