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.
Wright County, Minnesota, has about 155,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Wright County Sheriff's Office and three 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 Wright 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: Wright County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Wright County
The Wright County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Wright County. It reported 1,564 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside three 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:
- Buffalo, 16,736 residents: 202 arrests reported for 2024.
- Annandale, 3,487 residents: 45 arrests reported for 2025.
- Howard Lake, 2,247 residents: 10 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 Dayton Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Wright County, so its arrests are not broken out for Wright County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Wright 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.
- Wright County Sheriff's Office: 1,564 for 2025, 1,628 for 2024, 2,265 for 2023, 2,473 for 2022, 2,579 for 2021 and 3,371 for 2020.
- Annandale: 45 for 2025, 49 for 2024, 45 for 2023, 46 for 2022, 57 for 2021 and 69 for 2020.
- Howard Lake: 10 for 2025, 14 for 2024, 17 for 2023, 19 for 2022, 19 for 2020 and 10 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Buffalo: 202 for 2024, 175 for 2022, 273 for 2021, 716 for 2020 and 809 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,619 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,619 in 2025 against 1,691 in 2024, down 4.3 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 872 arrests, against 1,041 in the same months of 2025.
Buffalo reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Wright County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Wright 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 2023 the jail held about 150 people, down from about 160 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 288 beds, and it ran at 51 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 Wright County Sheriff's Office at wrightcountymn.gov/292/Jail-Corrections (page title: Jail | Corrections | Wright County, MN), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Wright County
Whether someone was arrested in Wright 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 wrightcountymn.gov/133/Attorney, phone 763-682-7340).
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 Wright 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 Wright County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Buffalo, Annandale or Howard Lake: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 763-682-7340, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at wright-county-mn.nextrequest.com (page title: Public Data RequestNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Cities in Wright County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the 16 cities in Wright County: Buffalo, Annandale and Howard Lake. Otsego, St. Michael, Monticello, Albertville, Delano, Rockford, Hanover, Montrose, Cokato, Waverly, Clearwater, Maple Lake and one 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 Wright County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Wright County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Otsego (23,875)
- St. Michael (21,681)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Wright County each year?
The Wright County Sheriff's Office reported 1,564 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,619 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Wright County?
Ask the Wright County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at wrightcountymn.gov/292/Jail-Corrections.
Where are people arrested in Wright County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Wright County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Wright 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 Wright County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Wright 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 wright-county-mn.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Wright 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.