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.
Iowa County, Wisconsin, has about 24,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Iowa County Sheriff's Office and six 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 Iowa 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: Iowa County public records, Wisconsin arrest records, Wisconsin inmate search and Wisconsin criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Iowa County
The Iowa County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Iowa County. It reported 158 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside six of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Dodgeville, 5,077 residents: 82 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mineral Point, 2,560 residents: 56 arrests reported for 2025.
- Barneveld, 1,331 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2022.
- Highland, 869 residents: 5 arrests reported for 2020.
- Avoca, 551 residents: 7 arrests reported for 2023.
- Linden, 494 residents: 1 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 Muscoda Police Department and the Blanchardville Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Iowa County, so their arrests are not broken out for Iowa County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Iowa 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.
- Iowa County Sheriff's Office: 158 for 2025, 175 for 2024, 124 for 2022, 163 for 2021, 126 for 2020 and 189 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Dodgeville: 82 for 2025, 133 for 2024, 156 for 2023, 140 for 2022, 186 for 2021 and 313 for 2020.
- Mineral Point: 56 for 2025, 37 for 2024, 22 for 2023, 75 for 2020 and 175 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Linden: 1 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 2 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Avoca: 7 for 2023, 6 for 2020 and 6 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Highland: 5 for 2020 and 4 for 2019.
- Barneveld: 2 for 2022, 2 for 2020 and 8 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 297 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 297 in 2025 against 345 in 2024, down 14 percent.
Through March 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 77 arrests, against 50 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Iowa County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Iowa 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 55 people, up from about 22 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 101 beds, and it ran at 54 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 Iowa County Sheriff's Office at iowacountywi.gov/departments/lecjail (page title: Welcome to the Official Website of Iowa County, WI | Law Enforcement Center | Jail), phone 608-930-9500, 911 Location 109 East Leffler Street Dodgeville, WI 53533, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Iowa County
Whether someone was arrested in Iowa County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Iowa 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 iowacountywi.gov/departments/DistrictAttorney, phone (608) 935-0393).
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 Iowa 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 Iowa County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 608-930-9500.
- An arrest in Dodgeville, Mineral Point, Barneveld, Highland, Avoca or Linden: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (608) 935-0393, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa 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 iowacountywi.gov/OpenRecordsRequestForm (page title: Welcome to the Official Website of Iowa County, WI | Open Records Request Form).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Iowa County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the 11 cities in Iowa County: Dodgeville, Mineral Point, Barneveld, Highland, Avoca and Linden. Arena, Ridgeway, Cobb, Hollandale and Rewey 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 Iowa County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Iowa County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Dodgeville (5,077)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Iowa County each year?
The Iowa County Sheriff's Office reported 158 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 297 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Iowa County?
Ask the Iowa County Sheriff's Office at 608-930-9500; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at iowacountywi.gov/departments/lecjail.
Where are people arrested in Iowa County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Iowa County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Iowa 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 Iowa County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Iowa 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 iowacountywi.gov/OpenRecordsRequestForm.
Is this the official Iowa 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.