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 on September 24, 2026.
Custer County, Montana, has about 12,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Custer County Sheriff's Office and one city agency. 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 Custer 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: Custer County public records, Montana arrest records, Montana inmate search and Montana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Custer County
The Custer County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Custer County. It reported 8 arrests for 2025.
One city in Custer County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Miles City, 8,407 residents: 108 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Custer 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.
- Miles City: 108 for 2025, 113 for 2024, 55 for 2023, 94 for 2022, 139 for 2021 and 166 for 2020.
- Custer County Sheriff's Office: 8 for 2025, 12 for 2024, 8 for 2023, 6 for 2022, 17 for 2021 and 5 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 116 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 116 in 2025 against 125 in 2024, down 7.2 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 32 arrests, against 74 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Custer County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Custer 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 2019 the jail held about 13 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 32 beds, and it ran at 41 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 Custer County Sheriff's Office at custercountysheriff.com/inmate-search (page title: Inmate Search | Custer County Sheriff's Office), phone 877-654-8463, 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 Custer County
Whether someone was arrested in Custer County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Custer County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Custer 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 custercountymt.gov/government/county-attorney, phone (406) 874-3310).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at custercountymt.gov/emergency-enforcement/justice-court (page title: Justice Court), phone (406) 874-3408, belongs to a lower court, not to the Custer 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 Custer 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 Custer County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 877-654-8463.
- An arrest in Miles City: 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, (406) 874-3310, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Custer County District Court it is kept by the Clerk of District Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at custercountymt.gov, phone (406) 874-3408, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Custer County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Custer County: Miles City. Ismay has 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 Custer County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Custer County each year?
Miles City reported 108 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 116 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Custer County?
Look on the custody page of the Custer County Sheriff's Office at custercountysheriff.com/inmate-search, or call 877-654-8463. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Custer County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Custer County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Custer 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 Custer County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Custer 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 Custer 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.