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 30, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Grand Forks County, North Dakota, has about 74,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Grand Forks 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 Grand Forks 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: Grand Forks County public records, North Dakota arrest records, North Dakota inmate search and North Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Grand Forks County
The Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Grand Forks County. It reported 419 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:
- Grand Forks, 59,845 residents: 2,250 arrests reported for 2025.
- Emerado, 450 residents: 3 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 Grand Forks County: the University of North Dakota (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Grand Forks 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.
- Grand Forks: 2,250 for 2025, 2,222 for 2024, 2,142 for 2023, 2,211 for 2022, 1,922 for 2021 and 1,549 for 2020.
- Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office: 419 for 2025, 487 for 2024, 577 for 2023, 500 for 2022, 495 for 2021 and 503 for 2020.
- Emerado: 3 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 9 for 2023, 12 for 2022, 13 for 2021 and 2 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,672 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,672 in 2025 against 2,714 in 2024, down 1.5 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Grand Forks County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Grand Forks 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 2019 the jail held about 200 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 233 beds, and it ran at 84 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 Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office at gfcounty.nd.gov/government/gfso (page title: Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office | Grand Forks County, ND), phone 701-780-8224, 1701 North Washington Street Grand Forks, ND 58203, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, whose inmate locator is at docr.nd.gov/resident-lookup.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Grand Forks County
An arrest in Grand Forks 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 gfcounty.nd.gov/government/state-s-attorney, phone 701-780-8281).
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 Grand Forks 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 Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 701-780-8224.
- An arrest in Grand Forks or Emerado: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the University of North Dakota: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 701-780-8281, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Grand Forks County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the nine cities in Grand Forks County: Grand Forks and Emerado. Larimore, Thompson, Northwood, Manvel, Gilby, Niagara and Inkster 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 Grand Forks County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Grand Forks County each year?
Grand Forks reported 2,250 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,672 between them.
Where are people arrested in Grand Forks County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Grand Forks 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 Grand Forks County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Grand Forks 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 Grand Forks 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.