Dodge County
89,097 people, served by 15 police agencies that report to the FBI.
How a case moves here
Dodge 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
- Watertown22,774
- Beaver Dam16,565
- Hartford15,821
- Waupun11,174
- Columbus5,488
- Mayville5,228
- Beaver Dam town4,041
- Horicon3,814
- Lomira village2,675
- Ashippun town2,667
- Juneau2,625
- Fox Lake town2,487
- Rubicon town1,965
- Hubbard town1,821
- Fox Lake1,780
- Randolph village1,642
- Hustisford town1,566
- Lebanon town1,474
- Trenton town1,406
- Theresa village1,378
- Westford town1,346
- Emmet town1,202
- Elba town1,119
- Lowell town1,075
- Kekoskee village1,067
- Leroy town1,046
- Herman town1,035
- Oak Grove town1,035
- Lomira town1,021
- Theresa town1,009
- Hustisford village1,008
- Iron Ridge village909
- Calamus town902
- Reeseville village895
- Chester town855
- Portland town806
- Burnett town799
- Clyman town725
- Brownsville village595
- Shields town547
- Neosho village536
- Clyman village354
- Lowell village312
Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Dodge County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.
Police agencies
- Dodge County Sheriff's OfficeSheriff or county police32,213 served
- Watertown Police DepartmentCity police department22,538 served
- Beaver Dam Police DepartmentCity police department16,376 served
- Hartford Police DepartmentCity police department16,065 served
- Waupun Police DepartmentCity police department11,027 served
- Mayville Police DepartmentCity police department5,208 served
- Beaver Dam Township Police DepartmentCity police department4,021 served
- Horicon Police DepartmentCity police department3,928 served
- Juneau Police DepartmentCity police department2,712 served
- Lomira Police DepartmentCity police department2,669 served
- Fox Lake Police DepartmentCity police department1,702 served
- Theresa Police DepartmentCity police department1,287 served
- Hustisford Police DepartmentCity police department1,069 served
- Iron Ridge Police DepartmentCity police department922 served
- Brownsville Police DepartmentCity police department664 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 | 113 | 116 | 200 | 128 | 151 | 158 | 297 |
| Murder | 1 | 3 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 5 | |||
| Rape | 36 | 37 | 39 | 32 | 26 | 38 | 40 |
| Robbery | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 41 | |
| Aggravated assault | 75 | 74 | 157 | 93 | 124 | 116 | 212 |
| Property crime | 410 | 401 | 781 | 374 | 303 | 505 | 1,285 |
| Burglary | 41 | 40 | 66 | 25 | 26 | 44 | 143 |
| Larceny | 338 | 340 | 686 | 325 | 262 | 434 | 937 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 31 | 21 | 29 | 24 | 15 | 27 | 206 |
| Arson | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 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 | 1,781 | 1,772 | 2,596 | 1,812 | 1,727 | 2,157 | 2,474 |
| Simple assault and intimidation | 265 | 335 | 494 | 339 | 368 | 401 | 571 |
| Vandalism | 239 | 210 | 297 | 178 | 161 | 242 | 422 |
| Fraud | 274 | 284 | 345 | 288 | 242 | 319 | 262 |
| Drug abuse violations | 858 | 795 | 1,163 | 834 | 767 | 983 | 834 |
| Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc. | 44 | 40 | 68 | 45 | 48 | 55 | 198 |
| Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing | 4 | 4 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 7.1 | 23 |
| Forgery and counterfeiting | 26 | 25 | 42 | 16 | 19 | 28 | 37 |
| Embezzlement | 5 | 8 | 17 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 12 |
| Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution) | 33 | 31 | 69 | 32 | 38 | 45 | 47 |
| Prostitution and commercialized vice | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 4.9 |
| Gambling | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 0.1 | ||||
| Other Group A offenses | 30 | 37 | 89 | 64 | 69 | 64 | 63 |
| Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total) | 1 | 3 | 2 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 1.4 | ||
| Human trafficking (not in the total) | 3 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 1.8 |
Offenses agencies in Dodge 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.