SearchSystems Editorial

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.

About this guide

Waukesha County, Wisconsin, has about 417,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office and 23 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 Waukesha 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: Waukesha County public records, Wisconsin arrest records, Wisconsin inmate search and Wisconsin criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Waukesha County

The Waukesha County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Waukesha County. It reported 2,041 arrests for 2025.

The FBI lists 22 cities in Waukesha County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • Brookfield (township), 41,268 residents: 227 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Brookfield, 41,268 residents: 791 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Menomonee Falls, 40,700 residents: 656 arrests reported for 2025.
  • New Berlin, 40,302 residents: 607 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Muskego, 25,759 residents: 347 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Oconomowoc, 20,002 residents: 585 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Hartland, 10,203 residents: 156 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Waukesha, 8,573 residents: 2,346 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Mukwonago (town), 8,512 residents: 41 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Mukwonago, 8,512 residents: 237 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Pewaukee, 8,230 residents: 93 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Delafield, 7,275 residents: 174 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 Waukesha 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.

  • Waukesha: 2,346 for 2025, 1,922 for 2024, 1,885 for 2023, 1,590 for 2022, 1,305 for 2021 and 3,058 for 2020.
  • Waukesha County Sheriff's Office: 2,041 for 2025, 2,110 for 2024, 2,304 for 2023, 2,133 for 2022, 1,558 for 2021 and 1,556 for 2020.
  • Brookfield: 791 for 2025, 812 for 2024, 837 for 2023, 800 for 2022, 700 for 2021 and 857 for 2020.
  • Menomonee Falls: 656 for 2025, 693 for 2024, 704 for 2023, 706 for 2022, 576 for 2021 and 879 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
  • New Berlin: 607 for 2025, 692 for 2024, 726 for 2023, 603 for 2022, 717 for 2021 and 485 for 2020.
  • Oconomowoc: 585 for 2025, 691 for 2024, 671 for 2023, 617 for 2022, 550 for 2021 and 560 for 2020.
  • Muskego: 347 for 2025, 374 for 2024, 381 for 2023, 310 for 2022 and 313 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
  • Mukwonago: 237 for 2025, 239 for 2024, 266 for 2023, 242 for 2022, 241 for 2021 and 208 for 2020.
  • Brookfield (township): 227 for 2025, 184 for 2024, 177 for 2023, 299 for 2022, 224 for 2020 and 238 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Delafield: 174 for 2025, 243 for 2024, 183 for 2023, 188 for 2022, 159 for 2021 and 233 for 2020.
  • Hartland: 156 for 2025, 138 for 2024, 214 for 2023, 206 for 2022, 169 for 2021 and 68 for 2020.
  • Butler: 141 for 2025, 214 for 2023, 131 for 2022, 125 for 2021, 114 for 2020 and 291 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.

Together, the 16 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 8,658 arrests that year. The 14 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 8,476 in 2025 against 8,376 in 2024, up 1.2 percent.

Through March 2026, the 15 agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,178 arrests, against 2,111 in the same months of 2025.

Lannon, Big Bend, North Prairie, Nashotah and three more reported only part of 2025 (2 months, 11 months, 9 months and 3 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Waukesha County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Waukesha 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 470 people, down from about 500 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 807 beds, and it ran at 59 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 Waukesha County Sheriff's Office at waukeshacounty.gov/sheriff/jail-division/current-inmate-list (page title: Current Inmate List | Waukesha County), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.

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 Waukesha County

An arrest in Waukesha County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Waukesha County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at waukeshacounty.gov/circuit-courts/information-pages/court-record-in...); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at waukeshacounty.gov/district-attorney, phone 262-548-7076).

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 Waukesha 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 Waukesha County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Brookfield (township), Brookfield, Menomonee Falls, New Berlin, Muskego, Oconomowoc 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, 262-548-7076, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Waukesha County Circuit Court, through the court records page at waukeshacounty.gov.
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

The other Waukesha County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.

Cities in Waukesha County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 22 of the 27 cities in Waukesha County: the twelve named above and Elm Grove, Summit, North Prairie, Lannon, Butler, Big Bend, Nashotah, Oconomowoc Lake, Chenequa and Lac La Belle. Sussex, Lisbon, Vernon, Merton, Wales, Dousman and Eagle have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Eagle Village Police Department as a city agency in Waukesha County; Eagle Village 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 Waukesha County Circuit Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Waukesha 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 Waukesha County each year?

Waukesha reported 2,346 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 16 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 8,658 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Waukesha County?

Look on the custody page of the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office at waukeshacounty.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Waukesha County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Waukesha 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 Waukesha County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Waukesha 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 Waukesha 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.