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 between September 24, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Flathead County, Montana, has about 115,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Flathead County Sheriff's Office and three city agencies. 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 Flathead 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: Flathead County public records, Montana arrest records, Montana inmate search and Montana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Flathead County
The Flathead County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Flathead County. It reported 322 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Flathead County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Kalispell, 31,296 residents: 1,002 arrests reported for 2025.
- Whitefish, 9,256 residents: 179 arrests reported for 2025.
- Columbia Falls, 5,713 residents: 284 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 Flathead County
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.
- 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.
- Flathead County Sheriff's Office: 322 for 2025, 413 for 2024, 435 for 2023, 376 for 2022, 443 for 2021 and 429 for 2020.
- Columbia Falls: 284 for 2025, 293 for 2024, 232 for 2023, 209 for 2022, 260 for 2021 and 209 for 2020.
- Whitefish: 179 for 2025, 182 for 2024, 96 for 2023, 134 for 2022, 180 for 2021 and 150 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,787 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,787 in 2025 against 1,996 in 2024, down 10 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 889 arrests, against 1,098 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Flathead County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Flathead 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 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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Montana Department of Corrections lists its inmates at offendersearch.mt.gov/conweb.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Flathead County
Whether someone was arrested in Flathead County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: 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 Flathead 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 Flathead County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Kalispell, Whitefish or Columbia Falls: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- 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.
Cities in Flathead County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the three cities in Flathead County: Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Flathead County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Flathead County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Kalispell (31,296)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Flathead County each year?
Kalispell reported 1,002 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,787 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Flathead County?
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 Flathead County 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 Flathead 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 Flathead County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Flathead 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 Flathead 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.