Dakota County, Minnesota

How a case moves here

Dakota County follows Minnesota law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first: Police and the jail must cite and release most people arrested for misdemeanors. A person still held may post bail under the district court's bail process or schedule, or sees a district judge, who sets release conditions. A 2018 Judicial Council policy says it ended bail schedules statewide, but the rule still mentions them, so whether jails release on a money schedule is unclear.
Minn. R. Crim. P. 6.01 Minn. Stat. 629.72 House Research, Bail and Pretrial Release in Minnesota (Aug. 2024)Minnesota Pretrial Assessment Tool Validation Study (May 2023)
Time to see a judge: A person arrested and not released must see a judge within 36 hours, not counting the day of arrest, Sundays, and legal holidays. After a warrantless arrest, a judge must also find probable cause within 48 hours, counting every day.
Minn. R. Crim. P. 4.01, 4.03
Money bail: Minnesota courts may set money bail. A judge who sets conditions must also set an amount of money bail without other conditions, which the person can post instead.
Minn. R. Crim. P. 6.02 Minn. Const. art. I, sec. 7
Courts: Minnesota has one trial court, the district court, which hears every felony, gross misdemeanor, and misdemeanor. There are no municipal or justice courts.
Minn. Stat. 484.01 Minn. Stat. 484.87
Judges and magistrates: Voters elect district judges to six-year terms on the nonpartisan ballot, and candidates must be licensed lawyers. When a seat opens mid-term, the governor appoints a judge who later runs for a full term.
Minn. Const. art. VI, secs. 7-8 Minn. Stat. 204D.08, subd. 6 Minn. Stat. 204B.06

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Some of this is medium confidence and still being checked. Bail schedules: the 2023 judicial branch validation study says Judicial Council Policy 524 (2018) eliminated bail schedules statewide, but Rule 6.01 still says a person may be held until bail is posted under the district court's bail process or schedule, and a 2024 House Research brief says some offenses have a schedule. District standing orders (Hennepin, Ramsey) on pre-appearance release could not be opened (mncourts.gov blocked). Regional jails are from general knowledge.

What this county does differently

Pretrial practice

Mapping Pretrial Injustice listed its risk tool in 2021 as a state-specific tool (not named in the list).

MediaJustice and Movement Alliance Project, Mapping Pretrial Injustice county map (data as of fall 2021)

From Mapping Pretrial Injustice, a map compiled by MediaJustice and the Movement Alliance Project, advocacy groups that campaign against pretrial risk assessment tools. Its data is from fall 2021; CrimeDB uses it only where no court, government, or research list covers the county.

Police agencies

Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.

Crime and arrests

No figures yet

Reported offenses and arrests for Dakota County, counted by the agencies that serve it, appear here once the county series is published. NIBRS reporting here started as early as July 2020.