Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 25, 2026.
Barstow, California, in San Bernardino County, has about 25,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Barstow public records, San Bernardino County arrest records, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Barstow
The FBI lists Barstow with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Barstow Police Department. It reported 1,310 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 10,411 arrests for 2022.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in San Bernardino County: California State University at San Bernardino, Chaffey College and San Bernardino Community College (campus police); the San Bernardino Unified School District, the Fontana Unified School District, the Victor Valley Union High School District, Union Pacific Railroad in San Bernardino County and one more (other); California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection at San Bernardino and Patton State Hospital (state agency); the Highway Patrol's Inland Division, the Highway Patrol's Inland Investigative Services Unit, the Highway Patrol's Barstow, Needles, Victorville, Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, Arrowhead and Morongo Basin Area Offices and the Highway Patrol at Mountain Pass Port of Entry Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility (state police).
How Many Arrests Barstow Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Barstow: 1,310 for 2025, 1,139 for 2024, 1,120 for 2023, 1,513 for 2022, 1,571 for 2020 and 1,796 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Barstow's 1,310 arrests in 2025 were up 15 percent from 1,139 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Barstow reported 685 arrests, against 777 in the same months of 2025.
Across San Bernardino County, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 16,078 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Barstow Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Barstow is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2025 the jail held about 4,570 people, down from about 5,510 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 7,556 beds, and it ran at 60 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office at jimsnetil.shr.sbcounty.gov/bookingsearch.aspx (page title: County of San Bernardino Inmate Locator), phone (213) 894-2485, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, whose inmate locator is at cdcr.ca.gov/search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Barstow
Whether someone was arrested in Barstow, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sanbernardino.courts.ca.gov/online-services/case-information-documents); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at da.sbcounty.gov, phone (909) 382-3800).
California does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the California Department of Justice goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Barstow
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the California Public Records Act the agency must answer within 10 days, with up to 14 more days in unusual circumstances, and it may charge the direct cost of copying only, not staff time.
- An arrest by the Barstow police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at barstowca.org/departments/police/records-bureau/report-copies (page title: Report Copies | City of Barstow), 220 E. Mountain. View St., Suite B, Barstow CA 92311, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (213) 894-2485.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (909) 382-3800, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino, through the court records page at sanbernardino.courts.ca.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at arc.sbcounty.gov/public-records-request (page title: Public Records Request | San Bernardino County Assessor).
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
The San Bernardino County guide covers every agency in the county: San Bernardino County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Barstow each year?
Barstow reported 1,310 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Barstow?
Look on the custody page of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office at jimsnetil.shr.sbcounty.gov/bookingsearch.aspx, or call (213) 894-2485. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Barstow booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Barstow?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the California Department of Justice is not public; you can get your own for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the California Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Barstow?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Barstow police for its own arrests, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the California Public Records Act the answer is due within 10 days, with up to 14 more days in unusual circumstances; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at arc.sbcounty.gov/public-records-request.
Is this the official Barstow website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.