SearchSystems Editorial

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.

About this guide

Washington County, Minnesota, has about 284,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Washington County Sheriff's Office and eight 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 Washington 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: Washington County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Washington County

The Washington County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Washington County. It reported 772 arrests for 2025.

The FBI lists eight cities in Washington County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:

  • Woodbury, 80,596 residents: 1,249 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Cottage Grove, 42,760 residents: 651 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Oakdale, 30,441 residents: 449 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Forest Lake, 20,700 residents: 286 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Stillwater, 19,386 residents: 304 arrests reported for 2025.
  • St. Paul Park, 5,381 residents: 48 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Oak Park Heights, 4,674 residents: 153 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Bayport, 3,785 residents: 32 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 Hastings Police Department and the White Bear Lake Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Washington County, so their arrests are not broken out for Washington County here.

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Washington 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.

  • Woodbury: 1,249 for 2025, 1,262 for 2024, 1,111 for 2023, 818 for 2022, 817 for 2021 and 1,123 for 2020.
  • Washington County Sheriff's Office: 772 for 2025, 813 for 2024, 917 for 2023, 1,053 for 2022, 1,276 for 2021 and 1,458 for 2020.
  • Cottage Grove: 651 for 2025, 559 for 2024, 466 for 2023, 426 for 2022, 551 for 2021 and 740 for 2020.
  • Oakdale: 449 for 2025, 508 for 2024, 418 for 2023, 433 for 2022, 395 for 2021 and 501 for 2020.
  • Stillwater: 304 for 2025, 291 for 2024, 311 for 2023, 270 for 2022, 247 for 2021 and 260 for 2020.
  • Forest Lake: 286 for 2025, 304 for 2024, 455 for 2023, 431 for 2022, 313 for 2021 and 566 for 2020.
  • Oak Park Heights: 153 for 2025, 159 for 2024, 176 for 2023, 238 for 2022, 202 for 2021 and 228 for 2020.
  • St. Paul Park: 48 for 2025, 98 for 2022, 146 for 2021 and 205 for 2019; 2020, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
  • Bayport: 32 for 2025, 40 for 2024, 34 for 2023, 49 for 2022, 46 for 2021 and 63 for 2020.

Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,944 arrests that year. The eight of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,896 in 2025 against 3,936 in 2024, down 1 percent.

Through August 2026, the nine agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,825 arrests, against 2,559 in the same months of 2025.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Washington County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Washington 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 2019 the jail held about 190 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 229 beds, and it ran at 84 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 Washington County Sheriff's Office at washingtoncountymn.gov/3220/Daily-Jail-Booking-Report (page title: Daily Jail Booking Report | Washington County, MN), phone 651-430-7900, 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 Washington County

Whether someone was arrested in Washington County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Washington 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 washingtoncountymn.gov/411/County-Attorney, phone 651-430-6115).

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 Washington 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 Washington County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 651-430-7900.
  • An arrest in Woodbury, Cottage Grove, Oakdale, Forest Lake, Stillwater, St. Paul Park 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.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 651-430-6115, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at washingtoncountysheriffmn.nextrequest.com (page title: Open Public Law Enforcement RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
  • Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Cities in Washington County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for eight of the 25 cities in Washington County: Woodbury, Cottage Grove, Oakdale, Forest Lake, Stillwater, St. Paul Park, Oak Park Heights and Bayport. Hugo, Lake Elmo, Mahtomedi, Newport, Scandia, Grant, Afton, Lakeland, Dellwood, Lake St. Croix Beach, Landfall, Birchwood Village and five more 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 Washington County District Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Washington 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 Washington County each year?

Woodbury reported 1,249 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,944 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Washington County?

Look on the custody page of the Washington County Sheriff's Office at washingtoncountymn.gov, or call 651-430-7900. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Washington County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Washington County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Washington 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 Washington County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Washington 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 washingtoncountysheriffmn.nextrequest.com.

Is this the official Washington 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.