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.
Chippewa County, Minnesota, has about 12,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Chippewa 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 Chippewa 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: Chippewa County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Chippewa County
The Chippewa County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Chippewa County. It reported 8 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Chippewa County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Montevideo, 5,300 residents: 78 arrests reported for 2020.
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 Granite Falls Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Chippewa County, so its arrests are not broken out for Chippewa County here.
How Many Arrests The Chippewa County Sheriff's Office Reports
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.
- Chippewa County Sheriff's Office: 8 for 2024, 4 for 2023, 10 for 2022, 1 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Montevideo: 78 for 2020 and 104 for 2019.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Chippewa County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Chippewa 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 2019 the jail held about 13 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 13 beds, and it ran at 100 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Chippewa County
Whether someone was arrested in Chippewa 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 chippewacountymn.gov/284/County-Attorney, phone 320-269-7138).
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 Chippewa 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 Chippewa County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Montevideo: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 320-269-7138, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Cities in Chippewa County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the five cities in Chippewa County: Montevideo. Clara City, Milan, Maynard and Watson 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 Chippewa County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Chippewa County each year?
The Chippewa County Sheriff's Office reported 8 arrests to the FBI for 2024, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Chippewa County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Chippewa 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 Chippewa County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Chippewa 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 Chippewa 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.