Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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.
Blue Earth County, Minnesota, has about 71,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and one state agency. An arrest 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 each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Blue Earth County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Blue Earth County
The Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Blue Earth County. It reported 677 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Blue Earth County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Mankato, 46,459 residents: 2,356 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lake Crystal, 2,485 residents: 24 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mapleton, 1,639 residents: 36 arrests reported for 2025.
- Madison Lake, 1,314 residents: 11 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.
The Minnesota Lake Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Blue Earth County, so its arrests are not broken out for Blue Earth County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Blue Earth County: the State Patrol at Mankato (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Blue Earth County
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.
- Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office: 677 for 2025, 808 for 2024, 715 for 2023, 734 for 2022, 793 for 2021 and 717 for 2020.
- Mapleton: 36 for 2025, 29 for 2024, 54 for 2023, 38 for 2022, 42 for 2021 and 29 for 2020.
- Lake Crystal: 24 for 2025, 23 for 2024, 25 for 2023, 26 for 2022, 28 for 2021 and 36 for 2020.
- Madison Lake: 11 for 2025, 14 for 2024, 16 for 2023, 20 for 2022, 29 for 2021 and 11 for 2020.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,104 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,104 in 2025 against 3,304 in 2024, down 6.1 percent.
Through August 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,851 arrests, against 2,075 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Blue Earth County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Blue Earth 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 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 Blue Earth County
Whether someone was arrested in Blue Earth County, 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 Blue Earth County
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 Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Mankato, Lake Crystal, Mapleton or Madison Lake: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the State Patrol at Mankato: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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.
Cities in Blue Earth County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the 11 cities in Blue Earth County: Mankato, Lake Crystal, Mapleton and Madison Lake. Eagle Lake, St. Clair, Good Thunder, Amboy, Vernon Center, Skyline and Pemberton 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 Blue Earth County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Blue Earth County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Mankato (46,459)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Blue Earth County each year?
Mankato reported 2,356 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,104 between them.
Where are people arrested in Blue Earth County 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 Blue Earth County?
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 Blue Earth County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act the answer is due promptly, within a reasonable time.
Is this the official Blue Earth 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.