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 on September 23, 2026.
St. Louis County, Minnesota, has about 201,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office, 13 city agencies and three campus, state or other 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 St. Louis 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: St. Louis County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in St. Louis County
The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for St. Louis County. It reported 675 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside 11 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:
- Duluth, 87,986 residents: 2,857 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hibbing, 15,940 residents: 537 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hermantown, 10,265 residents: 242 arrests reported for 2025.
- Virginia, 8,267 residents: 362 arrests reported for 2025.
- Chisholm, 4,667 residents: 102 arrests reported for 2025.
- Eveleth, 3,415 residents: 119 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ely, 3,214 residents: 53 arrests reported for 2025.
- Proctor, 3,076 residents: 58 arrests reported for 2025.
- Gilbert, 1,655 residents: 65 arrests reported for 2025.
- Babbitt, 1,370 residents: 27 arrests reported for 2025.
- Floodwood, 517 residents: 6 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 these agencies in St. Louis County: the University of Minnesota at Duluth (campus police); the State Patrol at Virginia and the State Patrol at Duluth (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in St. Louis 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.
- Duluth: 2,857 for 2025, 2,497 for 2024, 1,911 for 2023, 1,494 for 2022 and 4,128 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- St. Louis County Sheriff's Office: 675 for 2025, 552 for 2024, 588 for 2023, 684 for 2022, 691 for 2021 and 641 for 2020.
- Hibbing: 537 for 2025, 380 for 2024, 351 for 2023, 425 for 2022, 420 for 2021 and 576 for 2020.
- Virginia: 362 for 2025, 486 for 2024, 454 for 2023 and 798 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Hermantown: 242 for 2025, 318 for 2024, 465 for 2022, 412 for 2021 and 737 for 2019; 2020 and 2023 are missing months.
- Eveleth: 119 for 2025, 99 for 2024, 92 for 2023, 129 for 2022, 143 for 2021 and 110 for 2020.
- Chisholm: 102 for 2025, 115 for 2024, 251 for 2023, 183 for 2022, 182 for 2021 and 158 for 2020.
- Gilbert: 65 for 2025, 84 for 2024, 102 for 2023, 77 for 2022, 134 for 2021 and 119 for 2020.
- Proctor: 58 for 2025, 56 for 2024, 62 for 2023, 44 for 2022, 35 for 2021 and 28 for 2020.
- Ely: 53 for 2025, 47 for 2024, 52 for 2023, 26 for 2022, 62 for 2021 and 115 for 2020.
- East Range: 40 for 2025, 31 for 2024, 62 for 2022, 66 for 2020 and 117 for 2019; 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Babbitt: 27 for 2025, 34 for 2024, 23 for 2023, 36 for 2022, 28 for 2020 and 35 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the 13 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,143 arrests that year. The 12 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,606 in 2025 against 4,321 in 2024, up 6.6 percent.
Through August 2026, the ten agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,154 arrests, against 3,360 in the same months of 2025.
Breitung Township reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in St. Louis County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in St. Louis 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 95 people, down from about 260 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 144 beds, and it ran at 66 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 St. Louis County Sheriff's Office at stlouiscountymn.gov/departments-a-z/sheriff/jail/jail-roster (page title: Jail Roster), phone 218-625-3581, 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 St. Louis County
Whether someone was arrested in St. Louis County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the St. Louis County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us/CaseSearch, phone (651) 793-2400); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at stlouiscountymn.gov/departments-a-z/attorney/about-the-county-attor..., phone 218-726-2323).
Statewide, Minnesota Court Records Online is the Minnesota Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
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 St. Louis 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 St. Louis County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 218-625-3581.
- An arrest in Duluth, Hibbing, Hermantown, Virginia, Chisholm, Eveleth 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 University of Minnesota at Duluth, the State Patrol at Virginia or the State Patrol at Duluth: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 218-726-2323, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the St. Louis County District Court, through the court records page at publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us/CaseSearch, phone (651) 793-2400.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Cities in St. Louis County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 11 of the 27 cities in St. Louis County: Duluth, Hibbing, Hermantown, Virginia, Chisholm, Eveleth, Ely, Proctor, Gilbert, Babbitt and Floodwood. Rice Lake, Mountain Iron, Hoyt Lakes, Aurora, Biwabik, Buhl, Cook, Tower, Orr, Winton, Kinney, Meadowlands and four more have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the East Range Police Department and the Breitung Township Police Department as city agencies in St. Louis County; East Range and Breitung Township are not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the St. Louis County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in St. Louis 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 St. Louis County each year?
Duluth reported 2,857 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 13 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,143 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in St. Louis County?
Look on the custody page of the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office at stlouiscountymn.gov, or call 218-625-3581. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in St. Louis County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in St. Louis 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 St. Louis County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the St. Louis 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 St. Louis 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.