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 October 2, 2026.
Onalaska, Wisconsin, in La Crosse County, has about 20,000 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 La Crosse 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: Onalaska public records, La Crosse County arrest records, Wisconsin arrest records and Wisconsin inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Onalaska
The FBI lists Onalaska with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Onalaska Police Department. It reported 502 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 La Crosse County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 738 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in La Crosse County: the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse (campus police).
How Many Arrests Onalaska 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.
- Onalaska: 502 for 2025, 529 for 2023, 479 for 2022, 511 for 2021, 667 for 2020 and 748 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
Through March 2026, Onalaska reported 119 arrests, against 111 in the same months of 2025.
Across La Crosse County, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 5,628 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Onalaska Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Onalaska is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2025 the jail held about 110 people, down from about 170 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 274 beds, and it ran at 41 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 La Crosse County Sheriff's Office at lacrossecounty.org/sheriff/sheriff/inmate (page title: Inmate Locator | Sheriff | La Crosse County), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Wisconsin Department of Corrections lists its inmates at appsdoc.wi.gov/lop/welcome.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Onalaska
Whether someone was arrested in Onalaska, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the La Crosse County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at wicourts.gov/SearchWicourts?q=la&fq=&pager.offset=100).
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 Onalaska
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 Onalaska police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at onalaskawi.gov/how_do_i/request/index.php (page title: Request), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the La Crosse County Circuit Court, through the court records page at wicourts.gov.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The La Crosse County guide covers every agency in the county: La Crosse County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Onalaska each year?
Onalaska reported 502 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Onalaska booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Onalaska?
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 Onalaska?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Onalaska police for its own arrests, the La Crosse 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 Onalaska 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.