Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 October 4, 2026.
Box Elder, South Dakota, in Pennington County, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city 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 Circuit Court for Pennington County. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Box Elder public records, Pennington County arrest records, South Dakota arrest records and South Dakota inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Box Elder
The FBI lists Box Elder with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Box Elder Police Department. It reported 547 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Pennington County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 3,608 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Pennington County: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (campus police).
How Many Arrests Box Elder Reports
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.
- Box Elder: 547 for 2025, 466 for 2024, 443 for 2023, 286 for 2022, 254 for 2021 and 217 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Box Elder's 547 arrests in 2025 were up 17 percent from 466 in 2024.
Across Pennington County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 10,741 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Box Elder Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Box Elder 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 630 people, down from about 1,070 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 662 beds, and it ran at 95 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 Pennington County Sheriff's Office at pennco.org/law_public_safety/jail/current_inmates.php (page title: Pennington County, SD), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the South Dakota Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.sd.gov/adult-corrections/offender-locator.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Box Elder
An arrest in Box Elder can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court for Pennington County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at dakotaathome.sd.gov/search/aeeb2f90-ffec-5ff2-9397-81ed6c86f875, phone 605-394-2575).
Statewide, UJS Public Access Record Search is the South Dakota courts' statewide search, with a fee per name.
South Dakota does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Box Elder
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 South Dakota Open Records Law the agency must answer within 10 business days, and it may charge copying and staff time.
- An arrest by the Box Elder police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at boxeldersd.gov/PublicRecordsRequest (page title: Official Website for the City of Box Elder, SD | Public Records Request), phone 605-923-1404, 911 Location 420 Villa Drive Box Elder, SD 57719, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Pennington County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court for Pennington County, through the court records page at dakotaathome.sd.gov, phone 605-394-2575.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
The Pennington County guide covers every agency in the county: Pennington County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Box Elder each year?
Box Elder reported 547 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Box Elder?
Look on the custody page of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office at pennco.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Box Elder booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Pennington County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Box Elder?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Pennington County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the South Dakota Open Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Box Elder?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Box Elder police for its own arrests, the Pennington County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the South Dakota Open Records Law the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Box Elder website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.