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 26, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Merrill, Wisconsin, in Lincoln County, has about 9,400 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 Lincoln 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: Merrill public records, Lincoln County arrest records, Wisconsin arrest records and Wisconsin inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Merrill
The FBI lists Merrill with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Merrill Police Department. It reported 764 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 456 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Merrill Reports
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.
- Merrill: 764 for 2025, 844 for 2024, 834 for 2023, 734 for 2022, 650 for 2021 and 409 for 2020.
Merrill's 764 arrests in 2025 were down 9.5 percent from 844 in 2024.
Through March 2026, Merrill reported 205 arrests, against 176 in the same months of 2025.
Across Lincoln County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,220 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Merrill Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Merrill 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 85 people, down from about 130 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 182 beds, and it ran at 47 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx (page title: Lincoln County Sheriffs Office P2C), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 27, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Wisconsin Department of Corrections lists its inmates at appsdoc.wi.gov/lop/welcome.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Merrill
For Merrill the place to look is Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, the free statewide case search of every circuit court, which shows whether charges were filed.
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 Merrill
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 Merrill police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at ci.merrill.wi.us/?SEC=%7B06291A5F-B130-475B-86E9-9EB61D59E828%7D (page title: Records | City of Merrill), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Lincoln County guide covers every agency in the county: Lincoln County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Merrill each year?
Merrill reported 764 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Merrill?
Ask the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx.
Where are people arrested in Merrill booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Merrill?
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 Merrill?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Merrill police for its own arrests, the Lincoln 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.
Is this the official Merrill 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.