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.
Oneida County, Wisconsin, has about 38,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Oneida County Sheriff's Office and four 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 Oneida 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: Oneida County public records, Wisconsin arrest records, Wisconsin inmate search and Wisconsin criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Oneida County
The Oneida County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Oneida County. It reported 1,281 arrests for 2025.
One city in Oneida County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Rhinelander, 8,286 residents: 528 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 Oneida 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.
- Oneida County Sheriff's Office: 1,281 for 2025, 1,100 for 2024, 1,234 for 2023, 936 for 2022, 880 for 2021 and 737 for 2020.
- Rhinelander: 528 for 2025, 588 for 2023, 582 for 2022, 550 for 2021, 579 for 2020 and 655 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Minocqua: 375 for 2025, 415 for 2024, 242 for 2022, 188 for 2021 and 183 for 2019; 2020 and 2023 are missing months.
- Woodruff: 67 for 2025, 65 for 2023, 80 for 2022, 59 for 2021, 73 for 2020 and 69 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Three Lakes: 52 for 2024, 39 for 2023 and 40 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,251 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,656 in 2025 against 1,515 in 2024, up 9.3 percent.
Through March 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 452 arrests, against 535 in the same months of 2025.
Three Lakes reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Oneida County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Oneida 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 49 people, down from about 180 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 203 beds, and it ran at 24 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 Oneida County Sheriff's Office at oneidacountywi.gov/departments/sd (page title: Sheriff’s Office | Oneida County, WI), phone 715-361-5100, Monday-Friday: 8:00AM-4:30PM, 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 Oneida County
Whether someone was arrested in Oneida County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Oneida County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at oneidacountywi.gov/departments/cc, phone 715-369-6120); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at oneidacountywi.gov/departments/da, phone 715-369-6133).
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 Oneida 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 Oneida County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 715-361-5100.
- An arrest in Rhinelander: 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, 715-369-6133, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Oneida County Circuit Court, through the court records page at oneidacountywi.gov/departments/cc, phone 715-369-6120.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Oneida County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Rhinelander, the one city in Oneida County. The FBI's list also carries the Minocqua Police Department, the Three Lakes Police Department and the Woodruff Police Department as city agencies in Oneida County; Minocqua, Three Lakes and Woodruff are 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 Oneida County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Oneida County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Rhinelander (8,286)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Oneida County each year?
The Oneida County Sheriff's Office reported 1,281 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,251 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Oneida County?
Ask the Oneida County Sheriff's Office at 715-361-5100; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at oneidacountywi.gov/departments/sd.
Where are people arrested in Oneida County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Oneida County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Oneida 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 Oneida County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Oneida 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 Oneida 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.