Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 23, 2026 and September 26, 2026.
Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, in Dane County, has about 9,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Dane County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Cottage Grove public records, Dane County arrest records, Wisconsin arrest records and Wisconsin inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Cottage Grove
The FBI lists Cottage Grove with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Cottage Grove Police Department. It reported 221 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Dane County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,739 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Dane County: the University of Wisconsin at Madison (campus police); the Capitol Police (state agency).
How Many Arrests Cottage Grove Reports
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.
- Cottage Grove: 221 for 2025, 202 for 2024, 161 for 2023, 155 for 2022, 155 for 2021 and 144 for 2020.
Cottage Grove's 221 arrests in 2025 were up 9.4 percent from 202 in 2024.
Through March 2026, Cottage Grove reported 69 arrests, against 58 in the same months of 2025.
Across Dane County, the 17 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 15,821 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cottage Grove Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Cottage Grove 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 2025 the jail held about 620 people, down from about 710 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 763 beds, and it ran at 82 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 Dane County Sheriff's Office at danesheriff.com/Jail (page title: Jail | Dane County Sheriff's Office), phone (608) 266-4311, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Madison, WI 53703, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at appsdoc.wi.gov/lop/welcome.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Cottage Grove
Whether someone was arrested in Cottage Grove, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Dane County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at da.danecounty.gov/Court-Process/Records-and-Fines, phone (608) 266-4311); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at da.danecounty.gov, phone (608) 266-9150).
Statewide, Wisconsin Circuit Court Access is the free statewide case search of every circuit court.
Wisconsin is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Wisconsin Online Record Check System lets anyone run a name-based check, through the Wisconsin Department of Justice. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Cottage Grove
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Wisconsin Public Records Law the agency must answer as soon as practicable and without delay; the law sets no number of days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying and locating, with no charge for the first $50 of locating.
- An arrest by the Cottage Grove police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at vi.cottagegrove.wi.gov/QuickLinks.aspx?CID=20 (page title: Quick Links, Police Department | Records Requests), 210 Progress Drive Suite 1 Cottage Grove, WI 53527, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Dane County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (608) 266-4311.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (608) 266-9150, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Dane County Circuit Court, through the court records page at da.danecounty.gov, phone (608) 266-4311.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at danecounty.gov/record-requests (page title: Public Record Requests | Dane County, Wisconsin).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Dane County guide covers every agency in the county: Dane County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cottage Grove each year?
Cottage Grove reported 221 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cottage Grove?
Ask the Dane County Sheriff's Office at (608) 266-4311; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at danesheriff.com/Jail.
Where are people arrested in Cottage Grove booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dane County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cottage Grove?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Wisconsin Department of Justice: the Wisconsin Online Record Check System lets anyone run a name-based check. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Wisconsin Public Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Cottage Grove?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cottage Grove police for its own arrests, the Dane County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Wisconsin Public Records Law the answer is due as soon as practicable and without delay; the law sets no number of days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at danecounty.gov/record-requests.
Is this the official Cottage Grove website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.