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.
Washington County, Wisconsin, has about 139,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Washington County Sheriff's Office and eight 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 Washington 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: Washington County public records, Wisconsin arrest records, Wisconsin inmate search and Wisconsin criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Washington County
The Washington County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Washington County. It reported 738 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside eight 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:
- West Bend, 32,149 residents: 1,456 arrests reported for 2025.
- Germantown, 21,032 residents: 628 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hartford (township), 15,984 residents.
- Hartford, 15,984 residents: 715 arrests reported for 2025.
- Jackson, 8,169 residents: 185 arrests reported for 2025.
- Slinger, 6,443 residents: 266 arrests reported for 2025.
- Kewaskum, 4,564 residents: 99 arrests reported for 2024.
- Newburg, 1,131 residents.
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 Washington 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.
- West Bend: 1,456 for 2025, 1,652 for 2024, 1,734 for 2023, 2,046 for 2022, 1,988 for 2021 and 1,689 for 2020.
- Washington County Sheriff's Office: 738 for 2025, 624 for 2024, 751 for 2023, 1,402 for 2022, 1,596 for 2020 and 1,529 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Hartford: 715 for 2025, 723 for 2024, 389 for 2023, 312 for 2021, 777 for 2020 and 667 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Germantown: 628 for 2025, 538 for 2024, 521 for 2023, 556 for 2022, 550 for 2021 and 692 for 2020.
- Slinger: 266 for 2025, 181 for 2024, 280 for 2023, 253 for 2022, 265 for 2021 and 382 for 2020.
- Jackson: 185 for 2025, 120 for 2024, 237 for 2023 and 266 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Kewaskum: 99 for 2024, 100 for 2023, 101 for 2022, 72 for 2021, 162 for 2020 and 169 for 2019.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,988 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,988 in 2025 against 3,838 in 2024, up 3.9 percent.
Through March 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 699 arrests, against 667 in the same months of 2025.
Kewaskum and Newburg reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 2 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Washington County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Washington County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2025 the jail held about 230 people, up from about 200 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 321 beds, and it ran at 72 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 Washington County Sheriff's Office at washingtoncountysheriffwi.org (page title: Washington County Jail Offender Locator), 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 Washington County
Whether someone was arrested in Washington County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Washington County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Washington County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at washcowisco.gov/departments/clerk_of_circuit_court, phone 262-335-4341); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at washcowisco.gov/departments/district_attorney, phone 262-335-4311).
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 Washington 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 Washington County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in West Bend, Germantown, Hartford (township), Hartford, Jackson, Slinger 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.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 262-335-4311, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Washington County Circuit Court, through the court records page at washcowisco.gov, phone 262-335-4341.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at washcowisco.gov (page title: Open Records | Washington County, WI).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Washington County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the eight cities in Washington County: West Bend, Germantown, Hartford (township), Hartford, Jackson, Slinger, Kewaskum and Newburg. Richfield has 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 Washington County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Washington County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Washington County each year?
West Bend reported 1,456 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,988 between them.
Where are people arrested in Washington County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Washington County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Washington 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 Washington County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Washington 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 washcowisco.gov.
Is this the official Washington 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.