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.
Mountrail County, North Dakota, has about 9,500 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Mountrail County Sheriff's Office and two city agencies. 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 Mountrail 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: Mountrail County public records, North Dakota arrest records, North Dakota inmate search and North Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Mountrail County
The Mountrail County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Mountrail County. It reported 57 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists two cities in Mountrail County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- New Town, 2,735 residents: 82 arrests reported for 2022.
- Stanley, 2,214 residents: 107 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Mountrail County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Stanley: 107 for 2024, 74 for 2023 and 73 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Mountrail County Sheriff's Office: 57 for 2024, 74 for 2023, 92 for 2022, 89 for 2021, 90 for 2020 and 79 for 2019.
- New Town: 82 for 2022, 71 for 2021, 75 for 2020 and 158 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 164 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 164 in 2024 against 148 in 2023, up 11 percent.
New Town reported only part of 2024 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Mountrail County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Mountrail 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 2019 the jail held about 16 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 42 beds, and it ran at 38 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 Mountrail County Sheriff's Office at co.mountrail.nd.us/pages/mountrail-county-correctional-center (page title: Mountrail County Correctional Center | Mountrail County), phone 701-628-8900, Tues and Thurs 8am-11am, 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 Mountrail County
Whether someone was arrested in Mountrail County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Mountrail County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at co.mountrail.nd.us/subpage/39, phone (701)628-2225); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.mountrail.nd.us/pages/states-attorneys-office, phone 701-628-2965).
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 Mountrail 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 Mountrail County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 701-628-8900.
- An arrest in New Town or Stanley: 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, 701-628-2965, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Mountrail County District Court, through the court records page at co.mountrail.nd.us/subpage/39, phone (701)628-2225.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Mountrail County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the seven cities in Mountrail County: New Town and Stanley. Parshall, Plaza, Palermo, White Earth and Ross 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 Mountrail County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Mountrail County each year?
Stanley reported 107 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the two agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 164 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Mountrail County?
Ask the Mountrail County Sheriff's Office at 701-628-8900; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at co.mountrail.nd.us.
Where are people arrested in Mountrail County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Mountrail County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Mountrail 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 Mountrail County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Mountrail 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 Mountrail 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.