Burnett County
17,223 people, served by 4 police agencies that report to the FBI.
How a case moves here
Burnett County follows Wisconsin 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
For most misdemeanors, a police officer or the jail can take cash bail under the statewide misdemeanor bail schedule. For felonies, a circuit court commissioner or circuit judge sets bail at the initial appearance. Wisconsin bars paid bail bondsmen, so sureties must be unpaid people.
Wis. Stat. 969.07Wis. Stat. 969.065Wis. Stat. 969.12Wis. Stat. 757.69(1)(b)Wis. Stat. 968.075(2m), (5)- Time to see a judge
A person who is arrested must be taken before a judge within a reasonable time in the county where the offense is charged. Wisconsin law sets no number of hours.
Wis. Stat. 970.01(1)- Money bail
Wisconsin courts may set cash bail. A surety must be a state resident and an unpaid natural person, so commercial bail bonds are not allowed.
Wis. Stat. 969.12- Courts
The circuit court in each county hears every felony and misdemeanor. Many cities, towns, and villages have a municipal court, but it hears only local ordinance violations punished by fines, not crimes.
Wis. Const. art. VII, secs. 6-7Wis. Stat. 755.045- Judges and magistrates
Voters elect circuit judges to six-year terms on a ballot with no party label. The chief judge of each judicial district appoints circuit court commissioners, who can hold initial appearances and set bail and must have been licensed lawyers for three years. Municipal judges are elected to terms of up to four years.
Wis. Const. art. VII, sec. 7Wis. Stat. 5.60(1)Wis. Stat. 757.68Wis. Stat. 757.69SCR ch. 75Wis. Stat. 755.01-.02
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Municipal courts are left out of limited_courts because they hear only ordinance forfeiture cases. wispd.org returned errors, so the defense section rests on statute. Whether municipal judges must be lawyers was not checked; it doesn't affect criminal cases.
What this county does differently
Nothing county-specific yet
Cities and towns
- Grantsburg village1,340
- Meenon town1,119
- Siren town1,091
- Grantsburg town1,090
- Jackson town1,047
- Oakland town998
- Trade Lake town926
- Wood River town863
- Swiss town768
- Siren village713
- Daniels town662
- La Follette town657
- Scott town655
- Sand Lake town654
- Webster village575
- Dewey town535
- Rusk town504
- Webb Lake town488
- West Marshland town477
- Union town462
- Anderson town409
- Lincoln town381
- Roosevelt town281
- Blaine town221
Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Burnett County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.
Police agencies
- Burnett County Sheriff's OfficeSheriff or county police14,279 served
- Grantsburg Police DepartmentCity police department1,382 served
- Siren Police DepartmentCity police department952 served
- Webster Police DepartmentCity police department717 served
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
The crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Wisconsin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 31 | 40 | 36 | 34 | 22 | 209 | 297 |
| Murder | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 5 | |
| Rape | 9 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 50 | 40 |
| Robbery | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 41 | |
| Aggravated assault | 20 | 25 | 29 | 25 | 14 | 145 | 212 |
| Property crime | 219 | 244 | 176 | 213 | 127 | 1,257 | 1,285 |
| Burglary | 50 | 63 | 36 | 59 | 23 | 296 | 143 |
| Larceny | 133 | 153 | 122 | 141 | 91 | 821 | 937 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 36 | 28 | 18 | 13 | 13 | 139 | 206 |
| Arson | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 7 |
Outside the crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Wisconsin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All offenses outside the crime index | 578 | 499 | 419 | 495 | 511 | 3,211 | 2,474 |
| Simple assault and intimidation | 120 | 128 | 93 | 117 | 149 | 779 | 571 |
| Vandalism | 88 | 81 | 79 | 88 | 69 | 520 | 422 |
| Fraud | 37 | 46 | 33 | 18 | 25 | 204 | 262 |
| Drug abuse violations | 269 | 190 | 171 | 242 | 245 | 1,434 | 834 |
| Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc. | 15 | 15 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 83 | 198 |
| Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing | 8 | 3 | 5 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 23 | ||
| Forgery and counterfeiting | 17 | 19 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 63 | 37 |
| Embezzlement | 1 | 1 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 12 | ||
| Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution) | 16 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 40 | 47 |
| Prostitution and commercialized vice | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 4.9 | ||||
| Other Group A offenses | 8 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 63 | 63 |
| Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 1.4 | |
| Human trafficking (not in the total) | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 1.8 |
Offenses agencies in Burnett County reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the reporting agencies police, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Wisconsin's rate over the same years. Agencies that reported part of a year are counted with their people, as the state's rates count them. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.
Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Wisconsin: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.