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 September 26, 2026.
St. Joseph, Minnesota, in Stearns County, has about 7,000 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 Stearns 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: St. Joseph public records, Stearns County arrest records, Minnesota arrest records and Minnesota inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in St. Joseph
The FBI lists St. Joseph with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as St. Joseph Police Department. It reported 74 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 Stearns County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 496 arrests for 2024.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Stearns County: the State Patrol at St. Cloud (state police).
How Many Arrests St. Joseph 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.
- St. Joseph: 74 for 2025, 145 for 2024, 167 for 2023, 112 for 2022, 211 for 2021 and 108 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
St. Joseph's 74 arrests in 2025 were down 49 percent from 145 in 2024.
Through August 2026, St. Joseph reported 82 arrests, against 54 in the same months of 2025.
Across Stearns County, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,260 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in St. Joseph Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in St. Joseph 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 130 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 151 beds, and it ran at 87 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 Stearns County Sheriff's Office at jailroster.stearnscountymn.gov/Current?page=1&sortOrder=booking_asc (page title: Stearns County, MN | Jail Roster Current Inmate Search), phone 320-259-3760, 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 St. Joseph
An arrest in St. Joseph can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Stearns County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Stearns County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at stearnscountymn.gov/court-records-research-searches); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at stearnscountymn.gov/attorneys-office).
Statewide, Minnesota Court Records Online is the Minnesota Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
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 St. Joseph
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 St. Joseph police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at stjosephmn.gov/114/Police-Department (page title: Police Department | St. Joseph, MN), phone 320-363-8250, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Stearns County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 320-259-3760.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Stearns County District Court, through the court records page at stearnscountymn.gov.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
The Stearns County guide covers every agency in the county: Stearns County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in St. Joseph each year?
St. Joseph reported 74 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in St. Joseph?
Look on the custody page of the Stearns County Sheriff's Office at jailroster.stearnscountymn.gov, or call 320-259-3760. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in St. Joseph booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Stearns County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in St. Joseph?
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 St. Joseph?
From the agency that made the arrest: the St. Joseph police for its own arrests, the Stearns 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 St. Joseph 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.