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.
Forest County, Wisconsin, has about 9,500 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Forest County Sheriff's Office and two city agencies. 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 Forest 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: Forest County public records, Wisconsin arrest records, Wisconsin inmate search and Wisconsin criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Forest County
The Forest County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Forest County. It reported 292 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Forest County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Crandon, 1,737 residents: 123 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 Forest County
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.
- Forest County Sheriff's Office: 292 for 2024, 746 for 2022, 775 for 2020 and 874 for 2019; 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Crandon: 123 for 2025, 126 for 2024, 118 for 2022, 84 for 2020 and 166 for 2019; 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 418 arrests that year.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Forest County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Forest 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 41 people, down from about 54 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 85 beds, and it ran at 48 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 Forest County Sheriff's Office at forestcountysheriff.org/jail.html (page title: Forest County Sheriff's Department), phone 715-478-3331, 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 Forest County
For Forest County 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 Forest 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 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 Forest County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 715-478-3331.
- An arrest in Crandon: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Forest County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Crandon, the one city in Forest County. The FBI's list also carries the Laona Police Department as a city agency in Forest County; Laona is not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Forest County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Forest County each year?
The Forest County Sheriff's Office reported 292 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the two agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 418 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Forest County?
Ask the Forest County Sheriff's Office at 715-478-3331; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at forestcountysheriff.org/jail.html.
Where are people arrested in Forest County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Forest County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Forest 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 Forest County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Forest 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.
Is this the official Forest 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.