Find Criminal Records in Beltrami County

Beltrami County criminal records come from the District Court in Bemidji and the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office, which covers 3,056 square miles, making it the fourth largest county in Minnesota by area. Bemidji serves as the county seat and the main hub for court filings and law enforcement activity. Criminal records here span court cases, arrest data, jail roster information, and active warrants. You can search free through Minnesota Court Records Online, check the BCA for $8, or visit the Beltrami County Judicial Center in person. This page covers each method available for Beltrami County criminal records.

Beltrami County Sheriff's Office

The Beltrami County Sheriff's Office is led by Chief Phil Hodapp. The Law Enforcement Center is at 613 Minnesota Ave. NW, Bemidji, MN 56601, phone 218-333-9111. Office hours run Monday through Friday from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. The Sheriff's Office includes patrol operations, an investigative division, and a SWAT team. The County Administrator, Kay Mack, is at 701 Minnesota Ave. NW, Suite 200, Bemidji, MN 56601, phone 218-333-8478.

The Beltrami County Adult Corrections Center is the county jail. It is a state-licensed facility regulated by the Minnesota Department of Corrections. The jail administrator is Calandra Allen. The facility is at 626 Minnesota Ave. NW, Bemidji, MN 56601, phone 218-333-4189, fax 218-333-8418. Approved capacity is 140 inmates. Staff includes four teams of corrections officers, six full-time each, plus twelve part-time officers. A new Adult Corrections Center is under construction with an expected completion in 2027.

Visitation at the current jail runs three sessions daily: 7:30-11:30 am, 2:00-5:00 pm, and 7:00-10:00 pm. Off-site video visits are available through inmatecanteen.com, which also handles inmate deposits. Under Minn. Stat. § 13.82, Beltrami County arrest data is public and includes the charges, time of arrest, and custody status. The Sheriff also maintains an active warrant listing alphabetically on the agency website.

The Beltrami County Sheriff's Office at co.beltrami.mn.us provides access to warrant listings, jail information, and public records requests.

The Beltrami County main website at co.beltrami.mn.us links to Sheriff's Office resources, data practices requests, and contact information for all county departments.

Searching Beltrami County Criminal Records

Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO) at publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us is the free tool for searching Beltrami County court cases. Search by name or case number to see charges, hearing dates, and case status from the district court. Public documents filed after July 1, 2015 are available to view and download at no charge. Court-authored documents from July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2015 are also searchable. Cases before those dates require contacting the Beltrami County Judicial Center directly.

For in-person access, the Beltrami County Judicial Center is at 600 Minnesota Avenue NW Suite 108, Bemidji, MN 56601, phone 218-333-4120. The Court Administrator's office handles walk-in records requests and certified copy orders during business hours. Certified copies cost more than plain document copies and take more time to process.

The BCA's $8 conviction search at bca.dps.mn.gov returns statewide public conviction data for the past 15 years. Minn. Stat. § 13.87 governs what's public in that system. Beltrami County convictions will show alongside any other Minnesota convictions in the BCA results. The Minnesota DOC Offender Locator at coms.doc.state.mn.us/PublicViewer covers people currently in state prison or on state probation. You can also submit a written data practices request to Beltrami County through the county website under the Government Data Practices Act for any additional public records.

Beltrami County District Court Records

The Beltrami County Judicial Center handles all criminal cases in the county. The court administrator contact for case inquiries is at 218-333-4120. MCRO pulls case data from the district court system and makes it searchable online. It shows the register of actions, which is the chronological history of every filing and hearing in a case. You can see what charges were filed, when hearings occurred, and how the case resolved.

Documents in MCRO download as PDF files. These are unofficial copies. For legal proceedings that require a certified copy, you need to request one directly from the Court Administrator. Not all case types are available through MCRO. Juvenile delinquency, domestic abuse, and harassment cases are restricted from remote access. Sealed and expunged records do not appear in the system. Those access restrictions apply statewide, not just in Beltrami County.

Minnesota Background Check System

The BCA's Criminal History Search covers all Minnesota conviction data held in the central repository. Search it at bca.dps.mn.gov for $8. The BCA office is at 1430 Maryland Avenue East, St. Paul, MN 55106, phone 651-793-2400. The public search includes felony, gross misdemeanor, and misdemeanor convictions for the 15 years following sentence discharge, as set by Minn. Stat. § 13.87. It does not include arrest data, juvenile records, out-of-state records, federal cases, or records that have been expunged. The BCA is authorized as the state's central criminal repository under Minn. Stat. § 299C.46.

If you think BCA records contain errors about you, you have the right to contest the accuracy of that data under Minn. Stat. § 13.04. The BCA must provide a free in-person inspection of your own public conviction data if requested.

Note: Records accessed through the BCA public search are not certified. They reflect what's in the state repository at the time of the search and should be verified with local court records for anything that requires accuracy confirmation.

Expungement in Beltrami County

Beltrami County residents can pursue expungement through the District Court in Bemidji. Two paths exist under Minnesota law. Automatic expungement under Minn. Stat. § 609A.015 applies to cases that ended without a conviction. The BCA identifies those records and processes the expungement without a petition being required. For convictions, a petition under Minn. Stat. § 609A.03 is the route, and the waiting period depends on the offense level.

A Beltrami County expungement petition requires notifying all agencies that hold records related to the case. That includes the BCA, the Sheriff's Office, and any other relevant agency. Each can respond or object. A judge then reviews the full record before ruling. If granted, the record is sealed from public view but remains accessible to criminal justice agencies. Predatory offender registration under Minn. Stat. § 243.166 continues independently of any expungement order.

Predatory Offender Registry

Minnesota's predatory offender registry is run by the BCA under Minn. Stat. § 243.166. Beltrami County residents convicted of qualifying sex offenses must register their address with the Sheriff's Office or corrections agent. Failure to comply is a felony. Community notification levels are set under Minn. Stat. § 244.052. Level III offenders, those with the highest assessed risk, have their information publicly posted online. You can search registrants through the Department of Public Safety at dps.mn.gov.

Level I registrants in Beltrami County have their information kept within law enforcement. Level II registrants trigger notification to schools, daycares, and other facilities that serve likely victim populations. All levels must verify their registration annually during their birth month. Address changes must be reported within five days. Offenders who are homeless have special reporting rules under the statute.

Cities in Beltrami County

No major cities in Beltrami County meet our population threshold for dedicated pages. Criminal records for all Beltrami County residents are handled through the District Court in Bemidji.

Nearby Counties

These counties share borders with Beltrami County. Cases near county lines may be filed in one of these neighboring jurisdictions.