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.
Brookings County, South Dakota, has about 36,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Brookings County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one campus 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 State's Attorney files charges, a case in the Circuit Court for Brookings County. 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: Brookings County public records, South Dakota arrest records, South Dakota inmate search and South Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Brookings County
The Brookings County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Brookings County. It reported 14 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Brookings County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Brookings, 24,555 residents: 644 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 Brookings County: South Dakota State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Brookings 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.
- Brookings: 644 for 2025, 680 for 2024, 661 for 2023, 384 for 2022, 409 for 2021 and 426 for 2020.
- Brookings County Sheriff's Office: 14 for 2025, 41 for 2024, 40 for 2023, 63 for 2022, 64 for 2021 and 60 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 658 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 658 in 2025 against 721 in 2024, down 8.7 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Brookings County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Brookings County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 31 people, down from about 35 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 54 beds, and it ran at 65 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 Brookings County Sheriff's Office at brookingscountysd.gov/m/directory/department?did=11 (page title: Staff Directory, Sheriff's Office), phone 605-696-8308, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Brookings County
Whether someone was arrested in Brookings County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Circuit Court for Brookings County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at ujs.sd.gov/court-finder/third-judicial-circuit/brookings-county, phone 605-688-4200); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at brookingscountysd.gov/m/directory/department?did=4, phone 605-692-8606).
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 Brookings 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 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 Brookings County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 605-696-8308.
- An arrest in Brookings: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by South Dakota State University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 605-692-8606, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court for Brookings County, through the court records page at ujs.sd.gov, phone 605-688-4200.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Brookings County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the eight cities in Brookings County: Brookings. Volga, Aurora, Elkton, White, Bruce, Sinai and Bushnell 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 Circuit Court for Brookings County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Brookings County each year?
Brookings reported 644 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 658 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Brookings County?
Ask the Brookings County Sheriff's Office at 605-696-8308; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at brookingscountysd.gov.
Where are people arrested in Brookings County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Brookings County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Brookings County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Brookings 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 Brookings County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Brookings County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the South Dakota Open Records Law the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Brookings 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.