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.
Barnes County, North Dakota, has about 11,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Barnes 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 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 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: Barnes County public records, North Dakota arrest records, North Dakota inmate search and North Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Barnes County
The Barnes County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Barnes County. It reported 58 arrests for 2025.
One city in Barnes County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Valley City, 6,580 residents: 92 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 Barnes 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.
- Valley City: 92 for 2025, 102 for 2024, 171 for 2023, 240 for 2022, 188 for 2021 and 171 for 2020.
- Barnes County Sheriff's Office: 58 for 2025, 71 for 2024, 73 for 2022, 87 for 2021, 93 for 2020 and 97 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 150 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 150 in 2025 against 173 in 2024, down 13 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 64 arrests, against 93 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Barnes County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Barnes County 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 Barnes County
An arrest in Barnes County 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 Barnes 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 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 Barnes County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 701-845-8530.
- An arrest in Valley City: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- 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.
Cities in Barnes County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the 13 cities in Barnes County: Valley City. Wimbledon, Litchville, Sanborn, Oriska, Fingal, Dazey, Kathryn, Rogers, Nome, Leal, Sibley and Pillsbury 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 Barnes County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Barnes County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Valley City (6,580)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Barnes County each year?
Valley City reported 92 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 150 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Barnes County?
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 Barnes County 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 Barnes County?
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 Barnes County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Barnes County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the North Dakota Open Records Law the answer is due within a reasonable time.
Is this the official Barnes 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.