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.
Powell County, Montana, has about 7,100 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Powell 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 Powell 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: Powell County public records, Montana arrest records, Montana inmate search and Montana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Powell County
The Powell County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Powell County. It reported 29 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Powell County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Deer Lodge, 3,006 residents: 30 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 Powell 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.
- Deer Lodge: 30 for 2025, 62 for 2023, 63 for 2022, 108 for 2021, 110 for 2020 and 95 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Powell County Sheriff's Office: 29 for 2025, 97 for 2024, 85 for 2023, 46 for 2022, 48 for 2021 and 47 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 59 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 29 in 2025 against 97 in 2024, down 70 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Powell County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Powell 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 2022 the jail held about 14 people, up from about 11 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2022 was 28 beds, and it ran at 50 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Powell County Sheriff's Office at powellcountymt.gov/sheriff/page/civil-department (page title: Civil Department | Powell County, MT), 409 Missouri Ave., Suite 203 Deer Lodge, MT 59722, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Powell 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 Powell 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 Powell County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Deer Lodge: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Powell County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Deer Lodge, the one city in Powell County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Powell County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Powell County each year?
Deer Lodge reported 30 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 59 between them.
Where are people arrested in Powell County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Powell County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Powell 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 Powell County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Powell 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 Powell 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.