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.
Davison County, South Dakota, has about 20,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Davison 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 Davison 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: Davison County public records, South Dakota arrest records, South Dakota inmate search and South Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Davison County
The Davison County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Davison County. It reported 233 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Davison County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Mitchell, 15,621 residents: 722 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 Davison 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.
- Mitchell: 722 for 2025, 820 for 2024, 911 for 2023, 796 for 2022, 702 for 2021 and 902 for 2020.
- Davison County Sheriff's Office: 233 for 2025, 176 for 2024, 113 for 2023, 101 for 2022, 35 for 2021 and 74 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 955 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 955 in 2025 against 996 in 2024, down 4.1 percent.
Through April 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 306 arrests, against 343 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Davison County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Davison County 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 2024 the jail held about 1 people, down from about 43 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 68 beds, and it ran at 63 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 Davison County Sheriff's Office at davisoncounty.org/departments/sheriffs-office (page title: Sheriff’s Office), phone (605) 995-8630, 1015 S Miller Avenue, Mitchell, SD 57301, 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 Davison County
An arrest in Davison County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Circuit Court for Davison County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at ujs.sd.gov/cases-and-records); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at davisoncounty.org/departments/states-attorney, phone (605) 995-8627).
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 Davison 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 Davison County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (605) 995-8630.
- An arrest in Mitchell: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (605) 995-8627, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court for Davison County, through the court records page at ujs.sd.gov/cases-and-records.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Davison County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Davison County: Mitchell. Mount Vernon and Ethan 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 Davison County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Davison County each year?
Mitchell reported 722 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 955 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Davison County?
Ask the Davison County Sheriff's Office at (605) 995-8630; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at davisoncounty.org/departments/sheriffs-office.
Where are people arrested in Davison County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Davison County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Davison County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Davison 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 Davison County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Davison 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 Davison 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.