Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 24, 2026 and September 26, 2026.
Great Falls, Montana, in Cascade County, has about 60,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city 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 Cascade County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Great Falls public records, Cascade County arrest records, Montana arrest records and Montana inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Great Falls
The FBI lists Great Falls with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Great Falls Police Department. It reported 3,013 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Cascade County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 589 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Cascade County: the Great Falls International Airport Authority (other).
How Many Arrests Great Falls Reports
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.
- Great Falls: 3,013 for 2025, 2,992 for 2024, 3,516 for 2023, 3,304 for 2022, 3,038 for 2021 and 3,078 for 2020.
Great Falls's 3,013 arrests in 2025 were up 0.7 percent from 2,992 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Great Falls reported 1,869 arrests, against 2,072 in the same months of 2025.
Across Cascade County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,602 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Great Falls Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Great Falls 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 430 people, down from about 470 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 365 beds, and it ran at 117 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 Cascade County Sheriff's Office at cascadecountymt.gov/314/Inmate-Roster (page title: Inmate Roster | Cascade County, MT), phone 406-454-6820, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Montana Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at offendersearch.mt.gov/conweb.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Great Falls
Whether someone was arrested in Great Falls, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Cascade County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Cascade County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at cascadecountymt.gov/158/Clerk-of-Courts-Office, phone (406) 604-7796).
Montana is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the CHOPRS service lets anyone search public criminal history online by name, through the Montana Department of Justice. 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 Great Falls
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Montana Public Records Act the agency must answer in a timely manner; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the actual cost of fulfilling the request.
- An arrest by the Great Falls police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at greatfallsmt.gov/574/Police-Records-Requests (page title: Police Records Requests | Great Falls, MT), phone 406-454-6915, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Cascade County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 406-454-6820.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Cascade County District Court, through the court records page at cascadecountymt.gov, phone (406) 604-7796.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Cascade County guide covers every agency in the county: Cascade County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Great Falls each year?
Great Falls reported 3,013 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Great Falls?
Look on the custody page of the Cascade County Sheriff's Office at cascadecountymt.gov/314/Inmate-Roster, or call 406-454-6820. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Great Falls booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cascade County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Great Falls?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Montana Department of Justice: the CHOPRS service lets anyone search public criminal history online by name. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Montana Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Great Falls?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Great Falls police for its own arrests, the Cascade County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Montana Public Records Act the answer is due in a timely manner; the statute sets no number of days.
Is this the official Great Falls website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.