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 28, 2026.
Cass County, North Dakota, has about 201,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cass 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 State's Attorney files charges, a case in the Cass 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: Cass County public records, North Dakota arrest records, North Dakota inmate search and North Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Cass County
The Cass County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cass County. It reported 402 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Fargo, 136,285 residents: 3,563 arrests reported for 2025.
- West Fargo, 41,027 residents: 1,056 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 Cass County: North Dakota State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Cass 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.
- Fargo: 3,563 for 2025, 4,103 for 2024, 4,705 for 2023, 4,541 for 2022, 4,454 for 2021 and 4,645 for 2020.
- West Fargo: 1,056 for 2025, 1,012 for 2024, 913 for 2023, 939 for 2022, 1,006 for 2021 and 1,110 for 2020.
- Cass County Sheriff's Office: 402 for 2025, 311 for 2024, 461 for 2023, 390 for 2022, 315 for 2021 and 314 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,021 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,021 in 2025 against 5,426 in 2024, down 7.5 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,048 arrests, against 3,298 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cass County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Cass 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 2023 the jail held about 330 people, up from about 260 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 348 beds, and it ran at 94 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 Cass County Sheriff's Office at casscountynd.gov/our-county/sheriff (page title: Sheriff's Office | Cass County, ND), phone (701) 241-5800, Monday-Friday, 8 am-5 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 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 Cass County
Whether someone was arrested in Cass County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Cass County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at casscountynd.gov/our-county/courts, phone (701) 451-6900); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at casscountynd.gov/our-county/states-attorney, phone (701) 241-5850).
Statewide, North Dakota Courts Records Inquiry is the North Dakota courts' free statewide case search.
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 Cass 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 Cass County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (701) 241-5800.
- An arrest in Fargo or West Fargo: 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 North Dakota State University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (701) 241-5850, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Cass County District Court, through the court records page at casscountynd.gov/our-county/courts, phone (701) 451-6900.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at casscountynd.gov (page title: Open Records Request | Cass County, ND).
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Cass County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the 26 cities in Cass County: Fargo and West Fargo. Horace, Casselton, Mapleton, Kindred, Reile's Acres, Harwood, Argusville, Oxbow, Hunter, Arthur, Tower City, Davenport and 12 more 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 Cass County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Cass County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Fargo (136,285)
- West Fargo (41,027)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cass County each year?
Fargo reported 3,563 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,021 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cass County?
Ask the Cass County Sheriff's Office at (701) 241-5800; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at casscountynd.gov/our-county/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Cass County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cass County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cass 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 Cass County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cass 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at casscountynd.gov.
Is this the official Cass 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.