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 30, 2026.
Watertown, South Dakota, in Codington County, has about 23,000 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 Codington 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: Watertown public records, Codington County arrest records, South Dakota arrest records and South Dakota inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Watertown
The FBI lists Watertown with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Watertown Police Department. It reported 1,279 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 Codington County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 211 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Watertown 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.
- Watertown: 1,279 for 2025, 1,358 for 2024, 1,235 for 2023, 1,065 for 2022, 1,394 for 2021 and 1,494 for 2020.
Watertown's 1,279 arrests in 2025 were down 5.8 percent from 1,358 in 2024.
Across Codington County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,490 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Watertown Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Watertown 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 2021 the jail held about 64 people, up from about 46 in 2018. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Codington County Sheriff's Office at codington.sdcounty.gov/sheriff (page title: Codington County Sheriff's Office | The Codington County Sheriff’s Office is a full-service office providing C), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
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 Watertown
Whether someone was arrested in Watertown, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Circuit Court for Codington County, kept by the Clerk of Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at codington.sdcounty.gov/states-attorney, phone (605)882-6276).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at ujs.sd.gov/sd-unified-judicial-system-directory/codington-county-co... (page title: Codington County Court Services | SD UJS), phone 605-882-5110, belongs to a lower court, not to the Circuit Court for Codington County.
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 Watertown
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 agency that reports for Watertown: its own records unit.
- An arrest by the Codington County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (605)882-6276, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Circuit Court for Codington County it is kept by the Clerk of Courts. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at ujs.sd.gov, phone 605-882-5110, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
The Codington County guide covers every agency in the county: Codington County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Watertown each year?
Watertown reported 1,279 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Watertown?
Ask the Codington County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at codington.sdcounty.gov/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Watertown booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Codington County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Watertown?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Codington 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 Watertown?
From the agency that made the arrest: the agency that reports for Watertown for its own arrests, the Codington 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 Watertown 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.