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.
Broadwater County, Montana, has about 8,300 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Broadwater County Sheriff's Office. 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 Broadwater 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: Broadwater County public records, Montana arrest records, Montana inmate search and Montana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Broadwater County
The Broadwater County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Broadwater County. It reported 97 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests The Broadwater County Sheriff's Office 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.
- Broadwater County Sheriff's Office: 97 for 2025, 144 for 2024, 82 for 2023, 72 for 2022, 83 for 2021 and 86 for 2020.
The Broadwater County Sheriff's Office's 97 arrests in 2025 were down 33 percent from 144 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Broadwater County Sheriff's Office reported 84 arrests, against 78 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Broadwater County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Broadwater 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 2021 the jail held about 31 people, down from about 34 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 37 beds, and it ran at 91 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Broadwater County
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 Broadwater 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 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 Broadwater County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Broadwater County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Broadwater County with an arrest reporting agency of its own; the counts above are the county agencies'.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Broadwater County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Broadwater County each year?
The Broadwater County Sheriff's Office reported 97 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Broadwater County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Broadwater County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Broadwater County?
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 Broadwater County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Broadwater County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 Broadwater 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.