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.
Crow Wing County, Minnesota, has about 69,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office, nine 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 Crow Wing 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: Crow Wing County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Crow Wing County
The Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Crow Wing County. It reported 187 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside nine of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Brainerd, 14,400 residents: 849 arrests reported for 2025.
- Baxter, 9,186 residents: 348 arrests reported for 2025.
- Breezy Point, 2,750 residents: 58 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pequot Lakes, 2,462 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Crosslake, 2,412 residents: 26 arrests reported for 2025.
- Crosby, 2,328 residents: 46 arrests reported for 2024.
- Nisswa, 2,156 residents: 46 arrests reported for 2025.
- Deerwood, 570 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2025.
- Cuyuna, 327 residents: 0 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 FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Crow Wing County: the State Patrol at Brainerd (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Crow Wing 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.
- Brainerd: 849 for 2025, 820 for 2024, 764 for 2023, 829 for 2022, 804 for 2021 and 750 for 2020.
- Baxter: 348 for 2025, 416 for 2024, 310 for 2023, 293 for 2022, 408 for 2021 and 441 for 2020.
- Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office: 187 for 2025, 160 for 2024, 103 for 2023, 115 for 2022, 111 for 2021 and 122 for 2020.
- Breezy Point: 58 for 2025, 73 for 2024, 47 for 2023, 67 for 2022, 34 for 2021 and 27 for 2020.
- Nisswa: 46 for 2025, 30 for 2024, 71 for 2023, 51 for 2022, 71 for 2021 and 69 for 2020.
- Crosslake: 26 for 2025, 30 for 2024, 15 for 2023, 18 for 2022, 47 for 2021 and 49 for 2020.
- Deerwood: 2 for 2025, 9 for 2024, 6 for 2023, 5 for 2022, 8 for 2021 and 12 for 2020.
- Pequot Lakes: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 6 for 2023, 20 for 2022, 7 for 2021 and 10 for 2020.
- Cuyuna: 0 for 2025, 1 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Crosby: 46 for 2024, 58 for 2023, 60 for 2022, 38 for 2021, 51 for 2020 and 40 for 2019.
Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,516 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,516 in 2025 against 1,539 in 2024, down 1.5 percent.
Through August 2026, the eight agencies with every month so far on file reported 830 arrests, against 981 in the same months of 2025.
Crosby reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Crow Wing County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Crow Wing 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 85 people, down from about 190 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 276 beds, and it ran at 70 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 Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office at crowwing.gov/1532/In-Custody-List (page title: In Custody List | Crow Wing County, MN), 213 Laurel Street, Brainerd, MN 56401, 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 Crow Wing County
Whether someone was arrested in Crow Wing County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Crow Wing 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 crowwing.gov/522/Adult-Prosecution, phone 218-828-2311).
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 Crow Wing 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 Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Brainerd, Baxter, Breezy Point, Pequot Lakes, Crosslake, Crosby or another of the cities listed above: 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 Brainerd: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 218-828-2311, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at crowwing.gov/1722/Data-Practices-Requests (page title: Data Practices Requests | Crow Wing County, MN).
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Cities in Crow Wing County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for nine of the 18 cities in Crow Wing County: Brainerd, Baxter, Breezy Point, Pequot Lakes, Crosslake, Crosby, Nisswa, Deerwood and Cuyuna. Emily, Ironton, Jenkins, Fifty Lakes, Garrison, Riverton, Trommald, Fort Ripley and Manhattan Beach 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 Crow Wing County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Crow Wing County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Crow Wing County each year?
Brainerd reported 849 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,516 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Crow Wing County?
Look on the custody page of the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office at crowwing.gov/1532/In-Custody-List. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Crow Wing County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Crow Wing 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 Crow Wing County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Crow Wing 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 crowwing.gov/1722/Data-Practices-Requests.
Is this the official Crow Wing 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.