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 on September 23, 2026.
Douglas County, Wisconsin, has about 44,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, one city agency 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the Douglas County Circuit Court. 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: Douglas County public records, Wisconsin arrest records, Wisconsin inmate search and Wisconsin criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Douglas County
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Douglas County. It reported 483 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Douglas County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Superior, 668 residents: 1,382 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 Douglas County: the University of Wisconsin at Superior (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Douglas 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.
- Superior: 1,382 for 2025, 1,692 for 2023, 1,699 for 2022, 1,674 for 2021, 1,514 for 2020 and 2,751 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Douglas County Sheriff's Office: 483 for 2025, 489 for 2024, 504 for 2023, 449 for 2022, 325 for 2021 and 306 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,865 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 483 in 2025 against 489 in 2024, down 1.2 percent.
Through March 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 467 arrests, against 456 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Douglas County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Douglas 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 2025 the jail held about 110 people, down from about 160 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 229 beds, and it ran at 50 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 Douglas County Sheriff's Office at sheriffofdouglascountywi.org/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_... (page title: Inmate Roster | Douglas County Sheriff WI | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Wisconsin Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at appsdoc.wi.gov/lop/welcome.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Douglas County
An arrest in Douglas County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Douglas County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at wicourts.gov/casesearch.htm); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at douglascountywi.gov/183/District-Attorney, phone (715) 395-1218).
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 Douglas 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 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 Douglas County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Superior: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the University of Wisconsin at Superior: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (715) 395-1218, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Douglas County Circuit Court, through the court records page at wicourts.gov/casesearch.htm.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sheriffofdouglascountywi.org/records-request (page title: Records Request | Douglas County Sheriff WI).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Douglas County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the five cities in Douglas County: Superior. Lake Nebagamon, Solon Springs, Poplar and Oliver 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 Douglas County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Douglas County each year?
Superior reported 1,382 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,865 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Douglas County?
Look on the custody page of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office at sheriffofdouglascountywi.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Douglas County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Douglas County?
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 Douglas County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Douglas County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 sheriffofdouglascountywi.org/records-request.
Is this the official Douglas 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.