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 October 4, 2026.
Pennington County, South Dakota, has about 116,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Pennington County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies 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 Pennington 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: Pennington County public records, South Dakota arrest records, South Dakota inmate search and South Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Pennington County
The Pennington County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Pennington County. It reported 3,608 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Rapid City, 79,894 residents: 6,586 arrests reported for 2025.
- Box Elder, 13,887 residents: 547 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 Pennington County: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Pennington 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.
- Rapid City: 6,586 for 2025, 6,265 for 2024, 6,472 for 2023, 5,455 for 2021, 5,350 for 2020 and 7,378 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Pennington County Sheriff's Office: 3,608 for 2025, 4,145 for 2024, 4,969 for 2023, 5,713 for 2021, 4,445 for 2020 and 6,531 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Box Elder: 547 for 2025, 466 for 2024, 443 for 2023, 286 for 2022, 254 for 2021 and 217 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 10,741 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 10,741 in 2025 against 10,876 in 2024, down 1.2 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Pennington County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Pennington 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 2023 the jail held about 630 people, down from about 1,070 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 662 beds, and it ran at 95 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office at pennco.org/law_public_safety/jail/current_inmates.php (page title: Pennington County, SD), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Pennington County
An arrest in Pennington County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court for Pennington County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at dakotaathome.sd.gov/search/aeeb2f90-ffec-5ff2-9397-81ed6c86f875, phone 605-394-2575).
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 Pennington County
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 Pennington County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Rapid City or Box Elder: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by South Dakota School of Mines and Technology: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court for Pennington County, through the court records page at dakotaathome.sd.gov, phone 605-394-2575.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Pennington County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the eight cities in Pennington County: Rapid City and Box Elder. Hill City, Wall, New Underwood, Keystone, Wasta and Quinn 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 Pennington County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Pennington County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Box Elder (13,887)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Pennington County each year?
Rapid City reported 6,586 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 10,741 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Pennington County?
Look on the custody page of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office at pennco.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Pennington County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Pennington County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Pennington County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Pennington 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 Pennington County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Pennington 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 Pennington 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.