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.
Codington County, South Dakota, has about 29,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Codington County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Codington 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: Codington County public records, South Dakota arrest records, South Dakota inmate search and South Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Codington County
The Codington County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Codington County. It reported 211 arrests for 2025.
One city in Codington County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Watertown, 23,492 residents: 1,279 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Codington County
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.
- Codington County Sheriff's Office: 211 for 2025, 207 for 2024, 154 for 2023, 102 for 2022, 162 for 2021 and 267 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,490 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,490 in 2025 against 1,565 in 2024, down 4.8 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Codington County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Codington 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 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 Codington County
Whether someone was arrested in Codington County, 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 Codington 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 Codington County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Watertown: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- 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.
Cities in Codington County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the six cities in Codington County: Watertown. Florence, Henry, South Shore, Kranzburg and Wallace 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 Codington County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Codington County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Watertown (23,492)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Codington County each year?
Watertown reported 1,279 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,490 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Codington County?
Ask the Codington County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at codington.sdcounty.gov/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Codington County 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 Codington County?
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 Codington County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Codington 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 Codington 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.