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.
Custer County, Nebraska, has about 10,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Custer County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one state 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 County Attorney files charges, a case in the Custer 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: Custer County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Custer County
The Custer County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Custer County. It reported 105 arrests for 2025.
One city in Custer County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Broken Bow, 3,491 residents: 32 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 Custer County: the State Patrol in Custer County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Custer 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.
- Custer County Sheriff's Office: 105 for 2025, 116 for 2024, 117 for 2023, 108 for 2022, 113 for 2021 and 54 for 2020.
- Broken Bow: 32 for 2025, 55 for 2024, 22 for 2023, 25 for 2022, 20 for 2021 and 37 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 137 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 137 in 2025 against 171 in 2024, down 20 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 110 arrests, against 91 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Custer County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Custer 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 11 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 27 beds, and it ran at 41 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Custer County Sheriff's Office at custercountysheriff.com/inmate-search (page title: Inmate Search | Custer County Sheriff's Office), phone 877-654-8463, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, whose inmate locator is at dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corrections/COR_input.jsp.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Custer County
Whether someone was arrested in Custer County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Custer County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Custer County District Court, kept by the Clerk of the District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at custercountyne.gov/attorney-county, phone (308) 872-6327).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/custer-county-court (page title: Custer County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 308-872-5761, belongs to a lower court, not to the Custer County District Court.
Statewide, Nebraska Trial Court Case Search is the Nebraska Judicial Branch's statewide case search, with a fee per search.
Nebraska is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Patrol sells name-based criminal history checks to anyone online, through the Nebraska State Patrol. 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 Custer 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 Nebraska Public Records Statutes the agency must answer within 4 business days, and it may charge copying, and staff time after the first four hours.
- An arrest by the Custer County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 877-654-8463.
- An arrest in Broken Bow: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Custer County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (308) 872-6327, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Custer County District Court it is kept by the Clerk of the District Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov, phone 308-872-5761, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at custercountyne.gov (page title: Freedom of Information Request | Custer County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Custer County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the 11 cities in Custer County: Broken Bow. Arnold, Callaway, Sargent, Ansley, Merna, Mason City, Oconto, Anselmo, Berwyn and Comstock 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 Custer County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Custer County each year?
The Custer County Sheriff's Office reported 105 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 137 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Custer County?
Look on the custody page of the Custer County Sheriff's Office at custercountysheriff.com/inmate-search, or call 877-654-8463. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Custer County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Custer County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Custer County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Nebraska State Patrol: the Patrol sells name-based criminal history checks to anyone online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Nebraska Public Records Statutes.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Custer County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Custer County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Nebraska Public Records Statutes the answer is due within 4 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at custercountyne.gov.
Is this the official Custer 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.