Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest and crime counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 24, 2026 and September 27, 2026.
Lincoln County, South Dakota, has about 75,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In South Dakota the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of Courts; the statewide criminal history kept by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation is released only to its subject and to the employers and agencies the law allows. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Lincoln County is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests, directory links and common questions.
Related guides: Lincoln County public records, Lincoln County arrest records, Lincoln County warrants, Lincoln County inmate search, Lincoln County court records, South Dakota arrest records and South Dakota inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Circuit Court for Lincoln County
In South Dakota the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Lincoln County are heard by the Circuit Court for Lincoln County, which hears every civil, criminal, family, probate and juvenile case, with magistrate judges taking misdemeanors, traffic and small claims, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of Courts.
For Lincoln County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at ujs.sd.gov/cases-and-records (page title: South Dakota Court Records Access | South Dakota Unified Judicial System | SD UJS), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Statewide, UJS Public Access Record Search is the South Dakota courts' statewide search, with a fee per name.
The South Dakota Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation is closed to the public in South Dakota: it is released to its subject and to authorized employers and licensing agencies, and a member of the public uses the court's own case index instead.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at atg.sd.gov/LawEnforcement/Identification/criminalHistory.aspx.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Lincoln County
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Tea, Canton, Lennox and Worthing keep the arrest records in Lincoln County: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
The Beresford Police Department and the Sioux Falls Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Lincoln County, so their arrests are not broken out for Lincoln County here.
Together, the five agencies in Lincoln County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,080 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Lincoln County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Lincoln County in 2025
The four agencies in Lincoln County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 53 violent and 251 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 304 crimes in 2025 against 313 in 2024. Each reported crime is a report on file with the agency that took it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The full crime section, agency by agency, is on the Lincoln County public records guide.
The State's Attorney for Lincoln County
The State's Attorney decides which arrests in Lincoln County become charges and files them in the Circuit Court for Lincoln County; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at lincolncountysd.gov/199/States-Attorney (page title: State's Attorney | Lincoln County, SD), phone (605) 764-5732, 104 N. Main Street Suite 200 Canton, SD 57013, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Lincoln County
Registered sex offenders living in Lincoln County are listed on the South Dakota Sex Offender Registry, run by the South Dakota Attorney General at sor.sd.gov/Home/Search?d=t. The registry is public and can be searched online.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Lincoln County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the South Dakota Open Records Law a county office must answer a request within 10 business days, and it may charge copying and staff time. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lincolncountysd.justfoia.com/publicportal/home/newrequest (page title: Lincoln County, SD Public Portal | JustFOIA).
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Lincoln County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Lincoln County and South Dakota. These criminal records pages from its Lincoln County listing were opened again on October 2, 2026 and each one still answers:
- South Dakota DCI (atg.sd.gov)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Lincoln County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Lincoln 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.
Can I search Lincoln County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at ujs.sd.gov/cases-and-records (page title: South Dakota Court Records Access | South Dakota Unified Judicial System | SD UJS). Statewide, UJS Public Access Record Search is the South Dakota courts' statewide search, with a fee per name.
How do I get my own South Dakota criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Who prosecutes crimes in Lincoln County?
The State's Attorney, reached at (605) 764-5732, which files its cases in the Circuit Court for Lincoln County.
Is this the official Lincoln 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.