Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 26, 2026.
Minot, North Dakota, in Ward County, has about 47,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the State's Attorney files charges, a case in the Ward County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Minot public records, Ward County arrest records, North Dakota arrest records and North Dakota inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Minot
The FBI lists Minot with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Minot Police Department. It reported 930 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Ward County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 528 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Minot Reports
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.
- Minot: 930 for 2025, 1,273 for 2024, 1,702 for 2023, 1,550 for 2022, 1,304 for 2021 and 1,487 for 2020.
Minot's 930 arrests in 2025 were down 27 percent from 1,273 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Minot reported 506 arrests, against 505 in the same months of 2025.
Across Ward County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,476 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Minot Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Minot and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 130 people, up from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 286 beds, and it ran at 39 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 Ward County Sheriff's Office at co.ward.nd.us/395/Ward-County-Inmate-Locator (page title: Ward County Inmate Locator | Ward County, ND), phone 701-857-6530, 204 Front St. P.O. Box 907 Minot, ND 58702, 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 North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation lists its inmates at docr.nd.gov/resident-lookup.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Minot
Whether someone was arrested in Minot, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Ward County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; North Dakota Courts Records Inquiry, the North Dakota courts' free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.ward.nd.us/227/States-Attorney, phone 701-852-0111).
North Dakota is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: name-based criminal history records are open to anyone who asks, through the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. 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 Minot
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 North Dakota Open Records Law the agency must answer within a reasonable time, and it may charge copying, and staff time after the first hour.
- An arrest by the Minot police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at minotnd.gov/323/Records (page title: Records | Minot, ND), phone 701-857-6530, Mon-Fri 8:00 am-4:00 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Ward County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 701-857-6530.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 701-852-0111, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The Ward County guide covers every agency in the county: Ward County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Minot each year?
Minot reported 930 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Minot?
Look on the custody page of the Ward County Sheriff's Office at co.ward.nd.us/395/Ward-County-Inmate-Locator, or call 701-857-6530. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Minot booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Ward County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Minot?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation: name-based criminal history records are open to anyone who asks. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the North Dakota Open Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Minot?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Minot police for its own arrests, the Ward County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the North Dakota Open Records Law the answer is due within a reasonable time.
Is this the official Minot website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.