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 October 2, 2026.
La Crosse County, Wisconsin, has about 121,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office, six 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 La Crosse 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: La Crosse County public records, Wisconsin arrest records, Wisconsin inmate search and Wisconsin criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in La Crosse County
The La Crosse County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for La Crosse County. It reported 738 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in La Crosse County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- La Crosse, 51,049 residents: 4,985 arrests reported for 2025.
- Onalaska, 19,898 residents: 502 arrests reported for 2025.
- Holmen, 11,866 residents: 358 arrests reported for 2024.
- West Salem, 5,306 residents: 240 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bangor, 1,573 residents: 39 arrests reported for 2024.
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 La Crosse County: the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in La Crosse 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.
- La Crosse: 4,985 for 2025, 4,819 for 2024, 3,912 for 2022, 4,308 for 2021, 4,743 for 2020 and 6,228 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Holmen: 358 for 2024, 287 for 2023, 175 for 2022, 222 for 2020 and 350 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- West Salem: 240 for 2025, 285 for 2024, 227 for 2023, 235 for 2022, 262 for 2021 and 164 for 2020.
- Campbell Township: 127 for 2024, 126 for 2023, 86 for 2022, 139 for 2021, 202 for 2020 and 176 for 2019.
- Bangor: 39 for 2024, 38 for 2022, 25 for 2021 and 34 for 2019; 2020 and 2023 are missing months.
- La Crosse County Sheriff's Office: 738 for 2025, 735 for 2023, 388 for 2022, 479 for 2020 and 617 for 2019; 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
- Onalaska: 502 for 2025, 529 for 2023, 479 for 2022, 511 for 2021, 667 for 2020 and 748 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 5,628 arrests that year. The three of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 770 in 2024 against 640 in 2023, up 20 percent.
Onalaska and La Crosse County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2024 (11 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in La Crosse County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in La Crosse 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 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 La Crosse County
Whether someone was arrested in La Crosse County, 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 La Crosse 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 La Crosse County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in La Crosse, Onalaska, Holmen, West Salem or Bangor: 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 La Crosse: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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.
Cities in La Crosse County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the six cities in La Crosse County: La Crosse, Onalaska, Holmen, West Salem and Bangor. Rockland has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Campbell Township Police Department as a city agency in La Crosse County; Campbell Township 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 La Crosse County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in La Crosse County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Onalaska (19,898)
- Holmen (11,866)
- West Salem (5,306)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in La Crosse County each year?
La Crosse reported 4,985 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in La Crosse County sent in full, the five with every month on file reported 5,628 between them.
Where are people arrested in La Crosse County 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 La Crosse 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 La Crosse County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the La Crosse 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 La Crosse 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.