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 30, 2026.
Kalispell, Montana, in Flathead County, has about 31,000 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 Flathead 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: Kalispell public records, Flathead County arrest records, Montana arrest records and Montana inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Kalispell
The FBI lists Kalispell with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Kalispell Police Department. It reported 1,002 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 Flathead County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 322 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Kalispell 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.
- Kalispell: 1,002 for 2025, 1,108 for 2024, 1,100 for 2023, 1,043 for 2022, 1,072 for 2021 and 1,023 for 2020.
Kalispell's 1,002 arrests in 2025 were down 9.6 percent from 1,108 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Kalispell reported 617 arrests, against 742 in the same months of 2025.
Across Flathead County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,787 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Kalispell Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Kalispell 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 2021 the jail held about 93 people, up from about 88 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 154 beds, and it ran at 57 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 Flathead County Sheriff's Office at apps.flathead.mt.gov/jailroster/?report=bookings&sort=bookdate&days=2 (page title: Jail Roster | Flathead County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Kalispell
An arrest in Kalispell can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Flathead County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Flathead County District Court, kept by the Clerk of District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at flatheadcounty.gov/department-directory/attorney, phone (406) 758-5630).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at flatheadcounty.gov/department-directory/justice_court (page title: Justice Court | Flathead County, MT), phone 406-758-5643, belongs to a lower court, not to the Flathead County District Court.
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 Kalispell
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 Kalispell police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at kalispell.com/260/Police (page title: Police | Kalispell, MT), phone 406-758-7786, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Flathead County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (406) 758-5630, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Flathead County District Court it is kept by the Clerk of District Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at flatheadcounty.gov, phone 406-758-5643, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Flathead County guide covers every agency in the county: Flathead County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Kalispell each year?
Kalispell reported 1,002 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Kalispell?
Look on the custody page of the Flathead County Sheriff's Office at apps.flathead.mt.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Kalispell booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Flathead County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Kalispell?
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 Kalispell?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Kalispell police for its own arrests, the Flathead 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 Kalispell 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.