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.
Rice County, Minnesota, has about 69,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Rice County Sheriff's Office and four city agencies. 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 Rice 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: Rice County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Rice County
The Rice County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Rice County. It reported 140 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Rice County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Faribault, 24,983 residents: 348 arrests reported for 2025.
- Northfield, 21,316 residents: 274 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lonsdale, 5,066 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Dundas, 1,806 residents: 25 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 Rice 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.
- Faribault: 348 for 2025, 348 for 2024, 437 for 2023, 543 for 2022, 423 for 2021 and 739 for 2020.
- Northfield: 274 for 2025, 304 for 2024, 283 for 2023, 295 for 2022, 294 for 2021 and 460 for 2020.
- Rice County Sheriff's Office: 140 for 2025, 98 for 2024, 159 for 2023, 229 for 2022, 241 for 2021 and 336 for 2020.
- Dundas: 25 for 2025, 23 for 2024, 14 for 2023, 20 for 2022, 9 for 2021 and 55 for 2020.
- Lonsdale: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 4 for 2023, 7 for 2022, 25 for 2021 and 95 for 2020.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 787 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 787 in 2025 against 773 in 2024, up 1.8 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 471 arrests, against 514 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Rice County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Rice 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 14 people, down from about 43 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 71 beds, and it ran at 61 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Rice County Sheriff's Office at ricecountymn.gov/279/Rice-County-Jail (page title: Rice County Jail | Rice County, MN), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 429), so open it in a browser.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Rice County
An arrest in Rice County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: 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 ricecountymn.gov/319/Attorneys-Office-overview, phone 507-332-6103).
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 Rice 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 Rice County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Faribault, Northfield, Lonsdale or Dundas: 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, 507-332-6103, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Cities in Rice County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the six cities in Rice County: Faribault, Northfield, Lonsdale and Dundas. Morristown and Nerstrand 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 Rice County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Rice County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Faribault (24,983)
- Northfield (21,316)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Rice County each year?
Faribault reported 348 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 787 between them.
Where are people arrested in Rice County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Rice County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Rice 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 Rice County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Rice 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 Rice 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.