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.
Ramsey County, North Dakota, has about 12,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Ramsey 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 Ramsey 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: Ramsey County public records, North Dakota arrest records, North Dakota inmate search and North Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Ramsey County
The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Ramsey County. It reported 130 arrests for 2025.
One city in Ramsey County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Devils Lake, 7,314 residents: 595 arrests reported for 2023.
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 Ramsey 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.
- Devils Lake: 595 for 2023, 794 for 2022, 735 for 2021, 658 for 2020 and 651 for 2019.
- Ramsey County Sheriff's Office: 130 for 2025, 79 for 2021 and 91 for 2019; 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2021 on file reported 814 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2021 and 2020 complete reported 735 in 2021 against 658 in 2020, up 12 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ramsey County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Ramsey 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 2023 the jail held about 46 people, up from about 41 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 69 beds, and it ran at 66 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 Ramsey County Sheriff's Office at ramseycountynd.gov/161/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Ramsey County, ND), phone 701-662-0708, Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., 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 Ramsey County
An arrest in Ramsey County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Ramsey County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at ndcourts.gov/court-locations/ramsey-county, phone 701-662-1309); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at ramseycountynd.gov/166/States-Attorney, phone 701-662-0700).
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 Ramsey 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 Ramsey County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 701-662-0708.
- An arrest in Devils Lake: 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, 701-662-0700, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Ramsey County District Court, through the court records page at ndcourts.gov/court-locations/ramsey-county, phone 701-662-1309.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Ramsey County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the seven cities in Ramsey County: Devils Lake. Edmore, Crary, Starkweather, Brocket, Hampden and Lawton 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 Ramsey County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ramsey County each year?
Devils Lake reported 595 arrests to the FBI for 2023. For 2021, the latest year most of the agencies in Ramsey County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 814 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ramsey County?
Ask the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office at 701-662-0708; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at ramseycountynd.gov/161/Sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Ramsey County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ramsey 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 Ramsey County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ramsey 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 Ramsey 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.