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.
Kidder County, North Dakota, has about 2,400 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Kidder 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 Kidder 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: Kidder County public records, North Dakota arrest records, North Dakota inmate search and North Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Kidder County
The Kidder County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Kidder County. It reported 6 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Kidder County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Steele, 655 residents: 24 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 Kidder 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.
- Steele: 24 for 2025, 27 for 2024, 11 for 2023, 20 for 2022, 2 for 2021 and 6 for 2020.
- Kidder County Sheriff's Office: 6 for 2024, 9 for 2023, 7 for 2022, 6 for 2021, 5 for 2020 and 3 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 33 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 33 in 2024 against 20 in 2023.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Kidder County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Kidder 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.
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 Kidder County
For Kidder County the place to look is North Dakota Courts Records Inquiry, the North Dakota courts' free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed.
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 Kidder 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 Kidder County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Steele: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Kidder County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the six cities in Kidder County: Steele. Tappen, Dawson, Tuttle, Pettibone and Robinson 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 Kidder County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Kidder County each year?
Steele reported 24 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Kidder County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 33 between them.
Where are people arrested in Kidder County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Kidder County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Kidder 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 Kidder County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Kidder 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 Kidder 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.