Vernon County
31,443 people, served by 8 police agencies that report to the FBI.
How a case moves here
Vernon 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
- Viroqua4,471
- Westby2,432
- Viroqua town1,698
- Hillsboro1,353
- Jefferson town1,353
- Bergen town1,348
- Clinton town1,126
- Hamburg town1,114
- Christiana town1,022
- Franklin town1,011
- Greenwood town925
- Union town922
- Harmony town920
- Webster town893
- Coon Valley village857
- Stoddard village823
- Genoa town812
- Hillsboro town784
- Forest town733
- Whitestown town711
- Coon town701
- Kickapoo town687
- La Farge village575
- Sterling town575
- Wheatland town568
- Viola village551
- De Soto village503
- Ontario village422
- Stark town389
- Readstown village381
- Liberty town326
- Chaseburg village304
- Genoa village273
Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Vernon County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.
Police agencies
- Vernon County Sheriff's OfficeSheriff or county police22,223 served
- Viroqua Police DepartmentCity police department4,378 served
- Westby Police DepartmentCity police department2,423 served
- Hillsboro Police DepartmentCity police department1,395 served
- No name WI0630900City police department936 served
- No name WI0630600City police department762 served
- La Farge Police DepartmentCity police department701 served
- Readstown Police DepartmentCity police department369 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 | 22 | 14 | 15 | 29 | 24 | 87 | 297 |
| Murder | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 5 | ||||
| Rape | 6 | 4 | 6 | 10 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 40 | |
| Robbery | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 41 | ||||
| Aggravated assault | 16 | 9 | 15 | 23 | 13 | 64 | 212 |
| Property crime | 84 | 106 | 34 | 111 | 108 | 372 | 1,285 |
| Burglary | 21 | 22 | 9 | 20 | 15 | 73 | 143 |
| Larceny | 47 | 79 | 20 | 86 | 86 | 267 | 937 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 16 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 32 | 206 |
| Arson | 1 | 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 | 288 | 332 | 245 | 350 | 284 | 1,259 | 2,474 |
| Simple assault and intimidation | 60 | 70 | 62 | 96 | 59 | 291 | 571 |
| Vandalism | 50 | 56 | 45 | 59 | 47 | 216 | 422 |
| Fraud | 33 | 43 | 16 | 30 | 26 | 124 | 262 |
| Drug abuse violations | 97 | 105 | 87 | 114 | 112 | 433 | 834 |
| Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc. | 6 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 6 | 32 | 198 |
| Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 23 |
| Forgery and counterfeiting | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 19 | 37 |
| Embezzlement | 13 | 5 | 2 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 12 | ||
| Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution) | 8 | 20 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 43 | 47 |
| Prostitution and commercialized vice | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 4.9 | ||||
| Other Group A offenses | 17 | 24 | 16 | 18 | 11 | 72 | 63 |
Offenses agencies in Vernon 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.