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.
Yellowstone County, Montana, has about 172,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies 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 Yellowstone 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: Yellowstone County public records, Montana arrest records, Montana inmate search and Montana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Yellowstone County
The Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Yellowstone County. It reported 787 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Yellowstone County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Billings, 121,483 residents: 3,930 arrests reported for 2025.
- Laurel, 7,251 residents: 108 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 Yellowstone County: Montana State University at Billings (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Yellowstone 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.
- Billings: 3,930 for 2025, 4,133 for 2024, 4,309 for 2023, 3,959 for 2022, 3,870 for 2021 and 3,978 for 2020.
- Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office: 787 for 2025, 759 for 2024, 673 for 2023, 577 for 2022, 663 for 2021 and 647 for 2020.
- Laurel: 108 for 2025, 140 for 2024, 158 for 2023, 167 for 2022, 216 for 2021 and 201 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,825 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,825 in 2025 against 5,032 in 2024, down 4.1 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,336 arrests, against 3,373 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Yellowstone County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Yellowstone 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 450 people, down from about 470 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 383 beds, and it ran at 124 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 Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office at yellowstonecountymt.gov/sheriff/detention/dcsearch.asp (page title: Yellowstone County, Montana), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
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 Yellowstone County
Whether someone was arrested in Yellowstone County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Yellowstone County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at yellowstonecountymt.gov/clerk_court/copies.asp); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at yellowstonecountymt.gov/Coattorney, phone 406-256-2832).
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 Yellowstone 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 Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Billings or Laurel: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Montana State University at Billings: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 406-256-2832, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Yellowstone County District Court, through the court records page at yellowstonecountymt.gov.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Yellowstone County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Yellowstone County: Billings and Laurel. Broadview 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 Yellowstone County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Yellowstone County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Billings (121,483)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Yellowstone County each year?
Billings reported 3,930 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,825 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Yellowstone County?
Ask the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at yellowstonecountymt.gov.
Where are people arrested in Yellowstone County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Yellowstone 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 Yellowstone County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Yellowstone 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 Yellowstone 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.