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.
Pennington County, Minnesota, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Pennington County Sheriff's Office, one city agency 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 Pennington 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: Pennington County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Pennington County
The Pennington County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Pennington County. It reported 33 arrests for 2025.
One city in Pennington County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Thief River Falls, 8,779 residents: 138 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 Pennington County: the State Patrol at Thief River Falls (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Pennington 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.
- Thief River Falls: 138 for 2025, 145 for 2024, 306 for 2023, 287 for 2022, 269 for 2021 and 292 for 2020.
- Pennington County Sheriff's Office: 33 for 2025, 55 for 2024, 80 for 2023, 72 for 2022, 116 for 2021 and 101 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 171 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 171 in 2025 against 200 in 2024, down 15 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 98 arrests, against 87 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Pennington County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Pennington 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 40 people, down from about 53 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 92 beds, and it ran at 58 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 Pennington County Sheriff's Office at incustodysearch.penningtonsheriff.org/ResponsiveInCustody.aspx (page title: In-Custody Search | Pennington County Sheriff's Office), 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 Pennington County
An arrest in Pennington County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Pennington 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 co.pennington.mn.us/index.php/services/attorney, phone 218-683-7000).
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 Pennington 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 Pennington County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Thief River Falls: 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 Thief River Falls: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 218-683-7000, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at penningtonsheriff.org (page title: Records Request).
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Cities in Pennington County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Pennington County: Thief River Falls. St. Hilaire and Goodridge 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 Pennington County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Pennington County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Thief River Falls (8,779)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Pennington County each year?
Thief River Falls reported 138 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 171 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Pennington County?
Look on the custody page of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office at incustodysearch.penningtonsheriff.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Pennington County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Pennington County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Pennington 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 Pennington County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Pennington 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 penningtonsheriff.org.
Is this the official Pennington 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.