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 26, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Helena, Montana, in Lewis and Clark County, has about 35,000 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 Lewis and Clark 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: Helena public records, Lewis and Clark County arrest records, Montana arrest records and Montana inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Helena
The FBI lists Helena with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Helena Police Department. It reported 1,142 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 Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 298 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Helena Reports
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.
- Helena: 1,142 for 2025, 1,312 for 2024, 1,288 for 2023, 1,131 for 2022, 1,048 for 2021 and 1,256 for 2020.
Helena's 1,142 arrests in 2025 were down 13 percent from 1,312 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Helena reported 648 arrests, against 743 in the same months of 2025.
Across Lewis and Clark County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,461 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Helena Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Helena 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 150 people, up from about 130 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 166 beds, and it ran at 93 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 Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office at lccountymt.gov/Sheriff/Detention-Center (page title: Detention Center | Lewis & Clark County), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Helena
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 Helena
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 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 Helena police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at helenamt.gov/Departments/Police-Department/Support-Services-Records (page title: Support Services | City of Helena, MT), phone 406-447-8469, 406 Fuller Ave Helena, MT 59601, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Lewis and Clark County guide covers every agency in the county: Lewis and Clark County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Helena each year?
Helena reported 1,142 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Helena booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Helena?
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 Helena?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Helena police for its own arrests, the Lewis and Clark 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 Helena 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.