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.
Valley City, North Dakota, in Barnes County, has about 6,600 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 Barnes 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: Valley City public records, Barnes County arrest records, North Dakota arrest records and North Dakota inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Valley City
The FBI lists Valley City with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Valley City Police Department. It reported 92 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 Barnes County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 58 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Valley City Reports
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.
- Valley City: 92 for 2025, 102 for 2024, 171 for 2023, 240 for 2022, 188 for 2021 and 171 for 2020.
Valley City's 92 arrests in 2025 were down 9.8 percent from 102 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Valley City reported 44 arrests, against 61 in the same months of 2025.
Across Barnes County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 150 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Valley City Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Valley City 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 4 people, down from about 11 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 32 beds, and it ran at 34 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 Barnes County Sheriff's Office at barnescounty.us/index.php/sheriffs-office (page title: Sheriff's Office | Official Website of Barnes County, North Dakota), phone 701-845-8530, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
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 Valley City
An arrest in Valley City can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: 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 ndcourts.gov/news/north-dakota/counties/job-announcement-assistant-..., phone 701-845-8526).
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 Valley City
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 Valley City police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at valleycity.us/vcpd (page title: Police Department | City of Valley City), phone (701) 845-3110, Monday through Thursday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Barnes County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 701-845-8530.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 701-845-8526, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The Barnes County guide covers every agency in the county: Barnes County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Valley City each year?
Valley City reported 92 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Valley City?
Ask the Barnes County Sheriff's Office at 701-845-8530; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at barnescounty.us/index.php/sheriffs-office.
Where are people arrested in Valley City booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Barnes County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Valley City?
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 Valley City?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Valley City police for its own arrests, the Barnes 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 Valley City 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.