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. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 24, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Yankton County, South Dakota, has about 24,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Yankton 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 Yankton 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: Yankton County public records, South Dakota arrest records, South Dakota inmate search and South Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Yankton County
The Yankton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Yankton County. It reported 155 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Yankton County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Yankton, 15,670 residents: 451 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 Yankton 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.
- Yankton: 451 for 2025, 514 for 2024, 526 for 2023, 421 for 2022, 379 for 2021 and 372 for 2020.
- Yankton County Sheriff's Office: 155 for 2025, 121 for 2024, 87 for 2023, 43 for 2022, 22 for 2021 and 24 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 606 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 606 in 2025 against 635 in 2024, down 4.6 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Yankton County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Yankton 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.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Yankton County Sheriff's Office at yanktonsheriffsoffice.com/current-inmates (page title: Yankton County Sheriff, Yankton, SD), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the South Dakota Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.sd.gov/adult-corrections/offender-locator.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Yankton County
Whether someone was arrested in Yankton County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Yankton County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court for Yankton County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at dakotaathome.sd.gov/search/3da3e7d8-6667-5b77-8182-19cb4c058890, phone 605-668-3080); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.yankton.sd.us/custom/state-s-attorney-s, phone (605) 665-4301).
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 Yankton 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 Yankton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Yankton: 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) 665-4301, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court for Yankton County, through the court records page at dakotaathome.sd.gov, phone 605-668-3080.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Yankton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the six cities in Yankton County: Yankton. Gayville, Mission Hill, Volin, Lesterville and Utica 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 Yankton County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Yankton County each year?
Yankton reported 451 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 606 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Yankton County?
Look on the custody page of the Yankton County Sheriff's Office at yanktonsheriffsoffice.com/current-inmates. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Yankton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Yankton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Yankton County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Yankton 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 Yankton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Yankton 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 Yankton 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.