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 30, 2026.
Hill County, Montana, has about 16,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hill 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 Hill 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: Hill County public records, Montana arrest records, Montana inmate search and Montana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hill County
The Hill County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hill County. It reported 150 arrests for 2025.
One city in Hill County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Havre, 9,204 residents: 698 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 Hill 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.
- Havre: 698 for 2025, 721 for 2024, 794 for 2023, 796 for 2022, 917 for 2021 and 853 for 2020.
- Hill County Sheriff's Office: 150 for 2025, 180 for 2024, 211 for 2023, 147 for 2022, 265 for 2021 and 253 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 848 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 848 in 2025 against 901 in 2024, down 5.9 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 493 arrests, against 631 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hill County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hill County 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 2019 the jail held about 39 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 79 beds, and it ran at 49 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 Hill County
Whether someone was arrested in Hill County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Hill County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at hillcounty.us/departments/clerk_of_court.php, phone 406.400.2414); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at hillcounty.us/departments/county_attorney.php, phone (406)400-2423).
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 Hill County
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 Hill County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Havre: 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)400-2423, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Hill County District Court, through the court records page at hillcounty.us/departments/clerk_of_court.php, phone 406.400.2414.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Hill County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Hill County: Havre. Hingham 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 Hill County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Hill County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Havre (9,204)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hill County each year?
Havre reported 698 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 848 between them.
Where are people arrested in Hill County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hill County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hill 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 Hill County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hill 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 Hill 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.