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.
Carlton County, Minnesota, has about 37,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Carlton County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Carlton 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: Carlton County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Carlton County
The Carlton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Carlton County. It reported 210 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Carlton County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Cloquet, 12,475 residents: 203 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Carlton County
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.
- Carlton County Sheriff's Office: 210 for 2025, 232 for 2024, 230 for 2023, 184 for 2022, 211 for 2021 and 191 for 2020.
- Cloquet: 203 for 2025, 207 for 2024, 269 for 2023, 220 for 2022, 230 for 2021 and 203 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 413 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 413 in 2025 against 439 in 2024, down 5.9 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 246 arrests, against 291 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Carlton County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Carlton County 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 20 people, down from about 26 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 48 beds, and it ran at 54 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 Carlton County Sheriff's Office at carltoncountymn.gov/274/Jail-Roster (page title: Jail Roster | Carlton County, MN), phone 218-384-4560, 1780 Justice Drive, Suite 1200 Carlton, MN 55718, 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 Carlton County
Whether someone was arrested in Carlton County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Carlton 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 carltoncountymn.gov/151/Attorneys-Office, phone (800) 882-6722).
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 Carlton County
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 Carlton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 218-384-4560.
- An arrest in Cloquet: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (800) 882-6722, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at carltoncountymn.gov/534/Data-Request (page title: Data Request | Carlton County, MN).
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Cities in Carlton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the nine cities in Carlton County: Cloquet. Moose Lake, Scanlon, Carlton, Barnum, Wrenshall, Cromwell, Kettle River and Wright 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 Carlton County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Carlton County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Cloquet (12,475)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Carlton County each year?
The Carlton County Sheriff's Office reported 210 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 413 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Carlton County?
Look on the custody page of the Carlton County Sheriff's Office at carltoncountymn.gov/274/Jail-Roster, or call 218-384-4560. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Carlton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Carlton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Carlton 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 Carlton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Carlton 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at carltoncountymn.gov/534/Data-Request.
Is this the official Carlton 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.