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 September 26, 2026.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in Minnehaha County, has about 209,000 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 Minnehaha 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: Sioux Falls public records, Minnehaha County arrest records, South Dakota arrest records and South Dakota inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Sioux Falls
The FBI lists Sioux Falls with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Sioux Falls Police Department. It reported 8,024 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 Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,178 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Sioux Falls 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.
- Sioux Falls: 8,024 for 2025, 8,218 for 2024, 7,237 for 2023, 8,147 for 2022, 8,623 for 2021 and 9,021 for 2020.
Sioux Falls's 8,024 arrests in 2025 were down 2.4 percent from 8,218 in 2024.
Across Minnehaha County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 9,316 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Sioux Falls Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Sioux Falls 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 2022 the jail held about 290 people, up from about 290 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 422 beds, and it ran at 70 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 Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office at web.minnehahacounty.gov/dept/so/jailInmateInfo/browseJailInmate.php (page title: Minnehaha County Who's Behind Bars), phone 605-367-4321, 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 South Dakota Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.sd.gov/adult-corrections/offender-locator.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Sioux Falls
An arrest in Sioux Falls can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court for Minnehaha County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at minnehahacounty.gov/search/search.php?q=court+records); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at minnehahacounty.gov/dept/sa/sa.php, phone (605) 367-4226).
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 Sioux Falls
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 Sioux Falls police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at siouxfalls.justfoia.com/Forms/Launch/104d0615-d55b-4c31-885d-1bc0e9... (page title: Sioux Falls, SD | JustFOIA), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 605-367-4321.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (605) 367-4226, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court for Minnehaha County, through the court records page at minnehahacounty.gov.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
The Minnehaha County guide covers every agency in the county: Minnehaha County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Sioux Falls each year?
Sioux Falls reported 8,024 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Sioux Falls?
Look on the custody page of the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office at web.minnehahacounty.gov, or call 605-367-4321. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Sioux Falls booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Sioux Falls?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Minnehaha 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 Sioux Falls?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Sioux Falls police for its own arrests, the Minnehaha 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 Sioux Falls 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.