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.
Berkeley, California, in Alameda County, has about 122,000 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 Alameda. 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: Berkeley public records, Alameda County arrest records, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Berkeley
The FBI lists Berkeley with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Berkeley Police Department. It reported 2,111 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 Alameda County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,610 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Alameda County: the Highway Patrol's Oakland, Hayward and Dublin Area Offices, the Highway Patrol's Golden Gate Investigative Services Unit, the Highway Patrol at Nimitz Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility and the Highway Patrol at Mission Grade Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility (state police); San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit in Alameda County, Union Pacific Railroad in Alameda County and East Bay Regional Parks in Alameda County (other); California State Parks at Diablo Range (state agency); the University of California at Berkeley, Ohlone Community College and California State University at East Bay (campus police).
How Many Arrests Berkeley Reports
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Berkeley: 2,111 for 2025, 1,754 for 2024, 1,916 for 2023, 2,627 for 2020 and 3,635 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Berkeley's 2,111 arrests in 2025 were up 20 percent from 1,754 in 2024.
Through June 2026, Berkeley reported 986 arrests, against 1,098 in the same months of 2025.
Across Alameda County, the 13 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 14,194 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Berkeley Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Berkeley and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2025 the jail held about 1,450 people, down from about 2,530 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 3,485 beds, and it ran at 50 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 Alameda County Sheriff's Office at acgov.org/sheriff_app (page title: Inmate Locator), 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 Berkeley
An arrest in Berkeley can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at eportal.alameda.courts.ca.gov/?q=node%2F388); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at da.alamedacountyca.gov).
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 Berkeley
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 Berkeley police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at berkeleyca.gov/safety-health/police (page title: Police | City of Berkeley), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, through the court records page at eportal.alameda.courts.ca.gov/?q=node%2F388.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at auditor.alamedacountyca.gov (page title: Public Records Request | Alameda County Auditor-Controller/Clerk-Recorder).
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
The Alameda County guide covers every agency in the county: Alameda County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Berkeley each year?
Berkeley reported 2,111 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Berkeley?
Look on the custody page of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office at acgov.org/sheriff_app. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Berkeley booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Berkeley?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda 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 Berkeley?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Berkeley police for its own arrests, the Alameda 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 auditor.alamedacountyca.gov.
Is this the official Berkeley 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.