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 between September 24, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Dakota County, Nebraska, has about 21,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Dakota 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 Dakota 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: Dakota County public records, Nebraska arrest records, Nebraska inmate search and Nebraska criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Dakota County
The Dakota County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Dakota County. It reported 316 arrests for 2025.
One city in Dakota County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- South Sioux City, 13,910 residents: 457 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 Emerson Police Department is listed by the FBI across three counties including Dakota County, so its arrests are not broken out for Dakota County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Dakota County: the State Patrol in Dakota County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Dakota 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.
- South Sioux City: 457 for 2025, 603 for 2024, 590 for 2023, 562 for 2022, 575 for 2021 and 471 for 2020.
- Dakota County Sheriff's Office: 316 for 2025, 413 for 2024, 422 for 2023, 366 for 2022, 293 for 2021 and 494 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 773 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 773 in 2025 against 1,016 in 2024, down 24 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 394 arrests, against 490 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dakota County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Dakota 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 110 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 136 beds, and it ran at 83 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 Dakota County Sheriff's Office at dakotacosheriffne.org (page title: Dakota County Sheriff's Office), phone 402-987-2170, 701 W. 29th Street South Sioux City, NE 68776, Mon-Fri 10:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
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 Dakota County
An arrest in Dakota County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Dakota 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 dakotacounty.ne.gov/attorney-county, phone 402-987-2151).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at nebraskajudicial.gov/courts/dakota-county-court (page title: Dakota County Court | Nebraska Judicial Branch), phone 402-987-2145, belongs to a lower court, not to the Dakota 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 Dakota 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 Dakota County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 402-987-2170.
- An arrest in South Sioux City: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the State Patrol in Dakota County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 402-987-2151, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Dakota 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 402-987-2145, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Dakota County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the five cities in Dakota County: South Sioux City. Dakota City, Homer, Jackson and Hubbard 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 Dakota County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Dakota County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- South Sioux City (13,910)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dakota County each year?
South Sioux City reported 457 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 773 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Dakota County?
Ask the Dakota County Sheriff's Office at 402-987-2170; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dakotacosheriffne.org.
Where are people arrested in Dakota County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dakota County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dakota 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 Dakota County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dakota 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.
Is this the official Dakota 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.