Fond du Lac County
104,669 people, served by 10 police agencies that report to the FBI.
How a case moves here
Fond du Lac 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
- Pretrial practice
Mapping Pretrial Injustice listed its risk tool in 2021 as the COMPAS.
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.
Cities and towns
- Fond du Lac44,494
- Waupun11,174
- Ripon7,772
- North Fond du Lac village5,392
- Taycheedah town4,609
- Kewaskum village4,461
- Fond du Lac town3,713
- Friendship town2,763
- Empire town2,751
- Auburn town2,292
- Campbellsport village1,973
- Osceola town1,820
- Byron town1,759
- Ashford town1,744
- Lamartine town1,681
- Eldorado town1,436
- Ripon town1,370
- Waupun town1,318
- Forest town1,295
- Calumet town1,261
- Oakfield village1,182
- Eden town1,109
- Alto town1,064
- Marshfield town1,055
- Brandon village913
- Rosendale village853
- Springvale town824
- Eden village732
- Rosendale town696
- Oakfield town675
- Mount Calvary village642
- Metomen town599
- St. Cloud village454
- Fairwater village350
Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Fond du Lac County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.
Police agencies
- Fond du Lac Police DepartmentCity police department44,418 served
- Fond du Lac County Sheriff's OfficeSheriff or county police36,476 served
- Waupun Police DepartmentCity police department11,027 served
- Ripon Police DepartmentCity police department7,682 served
- North Fond du Lac Police DepartmentCity police department5,428 served
- Campbellsport Police DepartmentCity police department2,021 served
- Ripon Town Police DepartmentCity police department1,315 served
- Brandon-Fairwater Police DepartmentCity police department1,222 served
- Oakfield Village Police DepartmentCity police department1,066 served
- Rosendale Police DepartmentCity police department1,036 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 | 161 | 192 | 227 | 217 | 226 | 212 | 297 |
| Murder | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 5 |
| Rape | 37 | 51 | 48 | 52 | 41 | 48 | 40 |
| Robbery | 9 | 7 | 7 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 41 |
| Aggravated assault | 113 | 131 | 168 | 149 | 173 | 152 | 212 |
| Property crime | 938 | 984 | 927 | 1,115 | 935 | 1,016 | 1,285 |
| Burglary | 83 | 78 | 71 | 51 | 43 | 68 | 143 |
| Larceny | 796 | 851 | 812 | 1,020 | 865 | 901 | 937 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 59 | 55 | 44 | 44 | 27 | 48 | 206 |
| Arson | 4 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4.1 | 7 |
Outside the crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Wisconsin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All offenses outside the crime index | 2,923 | 2,499 | 2,540 | 2,795 | 2,657 | 2,783 | 2,474 |
| Simple assault and intimidation | 459 | 426 | 359 | 469 | 495 | 458 | 571 |
| Vandalism | 652 | 483 | 425 | 465 | 394 | 502 | 422 |
| Fraud | 311 | 294 | 261 | 312 | 237 | 294 | 262 |
| Drug abuse violations | 1,166 | 1,015 | 1,210 | 1,300 | 1,265 | 1,236 | 834 |
| Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc. | 86 | 75 | 98 | 89 | 103 | 94 | 198 |
| Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing | 4 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 8 | 11 | 23 |
| Forgery and counterfeiting | 76 | 59 | 53 | 33 | 40 | 54 | 37 |
| Embezzlement | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 8.7 | 12 |
| Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution) | 78 | 45 | 40 | 24 | 26 | 44 | 47 |
| Prostitution and commercialized vice | 6 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 4.9 | ||||
| Other Group A offenses | 77 | 77 | 70 | 81 | 83 | 81 | 63 |
| Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total) | 1 | 1 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 1.4 | ||
| Human trafficking (not in the total) | 11 | 3 | 2 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 1.8 |
Offenses agencies in Fond du Lac 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.