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.
Polk County, Minnesota, has about 30,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Polk County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and one other 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 Polk 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: Polk County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Polk County
The Polk County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Polk County. It reported 116 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Polk County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- East Grand Forks, 8,915 residents: 130 arrests reported for 2025.
- Crookston, 7,269 residents: 235 arrests reported for 2025.
- Fosston, 1,377 residents: 23 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 Polk County: Pine To Prairie Drug Task Force (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Polk 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.
- Crookston: 235 for 2025, 360 for 2024, 370 for 2023, 331 for 2022, 370 for 2021 and 421 for 2020.
- East Grand Forks: 130 for 2025, 109 for 2024, 162 for 2023, 194 for 2022, 245 for 2021 and 282 for 2020.
- Polk County Sheriff's Office: 116 for 2025, 104 for 2024, 116 for 2023, 184 for 2022, 152 for 2021 and 168 for 2020.
- Fosston: 23 for 2025, 48 for 2024 and 27 for 2023.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 504 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 504 in 2025 against 621 in 2024, down 19 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 249 arrests, against 265 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Polk County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Polk 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 2023 the jail held about 130 people, up from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 151 beds, and it ran at 89 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 Polk County
Whether someone was arrested in Polk 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 polkcountymn.gov/m/directory/department?did=14, phone 800-437-7051).
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 Polk 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 Polk County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in East Grand Forks, Crookston or Fosston: 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 Pine To Prairie Drug Task Force: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 800-437-7051, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at polkcountytx.nextrequest.com (page title: Open Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Cities in Polk County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the 15 cities in Polk County: East Grand Forks, Crookston and Fosston. Fertile, McIntosh, Fisher, Erskine, Climax, Winger, Mentor, Beltrami, Lengby, Nielsville, Gully and Trail 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 Polk County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Polk County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Crookston (7,269)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Polk County each year?
Crookston reported 235 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 504 between them.
Where are people arrested in Polk County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Polk County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Polk 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 Polk County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Polk 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 polkcountytx.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Polk 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.