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.
Missoula County, Montana, has about 123,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Missoula County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one campus 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 Missoula 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: Missoula County public records, Montana arrest records, Montana inmate search and Montana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Missoula County
The Missoula County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Missoula County. It reported 423 arrests for 2025.
One city in Missoula County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Missoula, 78,204 residents: 3,409 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.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Missoula County: the University of Montana (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Missoula 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.
- Missoula: 3,409 for 2025, 3,505 for 2024, 3,854 for 2023, 3,541 for 2022, 3,055 for 2021 and 3,288 for 2020.
- Missoula County Sheriff's Office: 423 for 2025, 342 for 2024, 353 for 2023, 263 for 2022, 265 for 2021 and 197 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,832 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,832 in 2025 against 3,847 in 2024, down 0.4 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,410 arrests, against 2,583 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Missoula County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Missoula 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 2023 the jail held about 340 people, up from about 270 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 370 beds, and it ran at 93 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 Missoula County Sheriff's Office at webapps.missoulacounty.us/jailroster/CourtSchedule (page title: Missoula County Inmate Court Schedule | Missoula County Inmate Information Portal), phone (406) 258-4000, 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 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 Missoula County
Whether someone was arrested in Missoula County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Missoula County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at missoulacounty.gov/departments/county-attorney, phone (406) 258-4737).
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 Missoula 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 Missoula County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (406) 258-4000.
- An arrest in Missoula: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the University of Montana: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (406) 258-4737, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at missoulacountymt.nextrequest.com (page title: Request Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Missoula County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Missoula, the one city in Missoula County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Missoula County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Missoula County each year?
Missoula reported 3,409 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,832 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Missoula County?
Look on the custody page of the Missoula County Sheriff's Office at webapps.missoulacounty.us, or call (406) 258-4000. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Missoula County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Missoula County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Missoula 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 Missoula County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Missoula 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at missoulacountymt.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Missoula 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.