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 between September 23, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Grant County, Wisconsin, has about 52,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Grant County Sheriff's Office, seven city agencies 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 Grant 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: Grant County public records, Wisconsin arrest records, Wisconsin inmate search and Wisconsin criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Grant County
The Grant County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Grant County. It reported 507 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists seven cities in Grant County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Platteville, 11,833 residents: 362 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lancaster, 4,042 residents: 57 arrests reported for 2025.
- Boscobel, 3,265 residents: 45 arrests reported for 2024.
- Fennimore, 2,775 residents: 34 arrests reported for 2025.
- Cuba City, 2,088 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2019.
- Muscoda, 1,303 residents: 78 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hazel Green, 1,176 residents: 13 arrests reported for 2020.
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 Grant County: the University of Wisconsin at Platteville (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Grant 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.
- Grant County Sheriff's Office: 507 for 2024, 457 for 2022, 429 for 2021, 420 for 2020 and 573 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Platteville: 362 for 2025, 472 for 2024, 658 for 2023, 617 for 2022, 575 for 2021 and 619 for 2020.
- Muscoda: 78 for 2025, 109 for 2024, 129 for 2023, 66 for 2022, 55 for 2021 and 58 for 2020.
- Lancaster: 57 for 2025, 52 for 2024, 80 for 2023, 74 for 2022, 64 for 2021 and 38 for 2020.
- Fennimore: 34 for 2025, 50 for 2024, 45 for 2023, 53 for 2022, 54 for 2021 and 43 for 2020.
- Boscobel: 45 for 2024, 27 for 2023, 23 for 2022, 14 for 2021, 14 for 2020 and 35 for 2019.
- Hazel Green: 13 for 2020 and 22 for 2019.
- Cuba City: 3 for 2019.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,235 arrests that year. The five of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 728 in 2024 against 939 in 2023, down 22 percent.
Cuba City and Hazel Green reported only part of 2024 (8 months and 8 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Grant County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Grant 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 46 people, down from about 48 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 101 beds, and it ran at 45 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Grant County
Whether someone was arrested in Grant County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Grant 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 gcinternetwebsite.co.grant.wi.gov/district-attorney, phone (608) 723-4237).
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 Grant 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 Grant County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Platteville, Lancaster, Boscobel, Fennimore, Cuba City, Muscoda or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the University of Wisconsin at Platteville: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (608) 723-4237, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Grant 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 gcinternetwebsite.co.grant.wi.gov (page title: Public Record Requests | Grant County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Grant County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for seven of the 19 cities in Grant County: Platteville, Lancaster, Boscobel, Fennimore, Cuba City, Muscoda and Hazel Green. Dickeyville, Cassville, Bloomington, Montfort, Potosi, Livingston, Blue River, Bagley, Tennyson, Mount Hope, Patch Grove and Woodman 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 Grant County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Grant County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Platteville (11,833)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Grant County each year?
The Grant County Sheriff's Office reported 507 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the six agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 1,235 between them.
Where are people arrested in Grant County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Grant County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Grant 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 Grant County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Grant 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 gcinternetwebsite.co.grant.wi.gov.
Is this the official Grant 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.