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 26, 2026.
Cotati, California, in Sonoma County, has about 7,400 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 Sonoma. 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: Cotati public records, Sonoma County arrest records, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Cotati
The FBI lists Cotati with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Cotati Police Department. It reported 414 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 Sonoma County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,447 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Sonoma County: California State Parks at Sonoma-Mendocino, California State Parks at Bay Area and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection at Sonoma-Lake-Napa (state agency); Sonoma State University and Sonoma County Junior College (campus police); Union Pacific Railroad in Sonoma County (other); the Highway Patrol's Santa Rosa Area Office (state police).
How Many Arrests Cotati 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.
- Cotati: 414 for 2025, 426 for 2024, 282 for 2023, 271 for 2022, 336 for 2020 and 562 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Cotati's 414 arrests in 2025 were down 2.8 percent from 426 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Cotati reported 252 arrests, against 255 in the same months of 2025.
Across Sonoma County, the ten agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 12,405 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cotati Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Cotati 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 680 people, down from about 1,040 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 912 beds, and it ran at 80 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office at sonomasheriff.org/reports-and-statistics (page title: Reports and Statistics | Sonoma County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation lists its inmates at cdcr.ca.gov/search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Cotati
Whether someone was arrested in Cotati, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Sonoma, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sonoma.courts.ca.gov/online-services/case-portal); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at da.sonomacounty.ca.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 Cotati
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 Cotati police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cotaticity.gov/249/Records-Request (page title: Records Request | Cotati, CA), phone 707-565-2311, 203 W Sierra Avenue Cotati, CA 94931, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Sonoma 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 Sonoma, through the court records page at sonoma.courts.ca.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sonomacounty.gov (page title: Public Records Requests | Clerk-Recorder-Assessor).
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
The Sonoma County guide covers every agency in the county: Sonoma County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cotati each year?
Cotati reported 414 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cotati?
Ask the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sonomasheriff.org/reports-and-statistics.
Where are people arrested in Cotati booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cotati?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Sonoma 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 Cotati?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cotati police for its own arrests, the Sonoma 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 sonomacounty.gov.
Is this the official Cotati 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.