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.
Morton County, North Dakota, has about 34,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Morton 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 Morton 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: Morton County public records, North Dakota arrest records, North Dakota inmate search and North Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Morton County
The Morton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Morton County. It reported 132 arrests for 2025.
One city in Morton County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Mandan, 24,788 residents: 1,023 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 Morton 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.
- Mandan: 1,023 for 2025, 951 for 2024, 981 for 2023, 889 for 2022, 1,046 for 2021 and 1,032 for 2020.
- Morton County Sheriff's Office: 132 for 2025, 152 for 2024, 185 for 2023, 195 for 2022, 200 for 2021 and 147 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,155 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,155 in 2025 against 1,103 in 2024, up 4.7 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 762 arrests, against 777 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Morton County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Morton 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 2017 the jail held about 44 people. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Morton County Sheriff's Office at mortonnd.gov/sheriffsoffice (page title: Sheriff's Office | Morton County, North Dakota), phone (701) 667-3330, 4000 Apple Creek Road Bismarck, ND 58504, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
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 Morton County
Whether someone was arrested in Morton County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: 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 mortonnd.gov/states_attorney, phone (701) 667-3330).
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 Morton County
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 Morton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (701) 667-3330.
- An arrest in Mandan: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (701) 667-3330, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Morton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the six cities in Morton County: Mandan. New Salem, Hebron, Glen Ullin, Flasher and Almont 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 Morton County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Morton County each year?
Mandan reported 1,023 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,155 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Morton County?
Ask the Morton County Sheriff's Office at (701) 667-3330; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at mortonnd.gov/sheriffsoffice.
Where are people arrested in Morton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Morton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Morton 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 Morton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Morton 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 Morton 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.