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.
Valley County, Montana, has about 7,400 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Valley 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 Valley 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: Valley County public records, Montana arrest records, Montana inmate search and Montana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Valley County
The Valley County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Valley County. It reported 39 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Valley County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Glasgow, 3,169 residents: 38 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 Valley 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.
- Valley County Sheriff's Office: 39 for 2025, 37 for 2024, 35 for 2023, 57 for 2022, 32 for 2021 and 117 for 2020.
- Glasgow: 38 for 2025, 51 for 2024, 40 for 2023, 86 for 2022, 44 for 2021 and 52 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 77 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 77 in 2025 against 88 in 2024, down 13 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 33 arrests, against 60 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Valley County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Valley 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 2021 the jail held about 28 people, down from about 29 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 29 beds, and it ran at 100 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Valley County
Whether someone was arrested in Valley County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Valley County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.mt.gov/Courts/portals); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at valleycountymt.gov/1281/County-Attorney, phone 406-228-6286).
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 Valley 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 Valley County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Glasgow: 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, 406-228-6286, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Valley County District Court, through the court records page at courts.mt.gov/Courts/portals.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sosmt.gov/public-records-request (page title: Public Records Request | Official Montana Secretary of State Website | Christi Jacobsen).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Valley County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the four cities in Valley County: Glasgow. Nashua, Fort Peck and Opheim have 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 Valley County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Valley County each year?
The Valley County Sheriff's Office reported 39 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 77 between them.
Where are people arrested in Valley County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Valley County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Valley 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 Valley County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Valley 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 sosmt.gov/public-records-request.
Is this the official Valley 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.