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.
La Palma, California, in Orange County, has about 15,000 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 Orange. 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: La Palma public records, Orange County arrest records, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in La Palma
The FBI lists La Palma with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as La Palma Police Department. It reported 290 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 Orange County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,884 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Orange County: the University of California at Irvine, California State University at Fullerton and Irvine Valley College (campus police); Union Pacific Railroad in Orange County (other); California State Parks at Orange Coast (state agency); the Highway Patrol's Westminster, Santa Ana and Capistrano Area Offices (state police).
How Many Arrests La Palma 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.
- La Palma: 290 for 2025, 291 for 2024, 304 for 2023, 303 for 2022, 382 for 2020 and 492 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
La Palma's 290 arrests in 2025 were down 0.3 percent from 291 in 2024.
Through August 2026, La Palma reported 193 arrests, against 189 in the same months of 2025.
Across Orange County, the 34 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 67,119 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in La Palma Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in La Palma 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 3,930 people, down from about 5,650 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 5,093 beds, and it ran at 67 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 Orange County Sheriff's Office at ocsheriff.gov/how-do-i/get-inmate-information (page title: Get Inmate Information... | Orange County California | Sheriff's Department), 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 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 La Palma
Whether someone was arrested in La Palma, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Orange County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Orange, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at occourts.org/online-services/case-access); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at ocdistrictattorney.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 La Palma
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 La Palma police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at lapalmaca.gov/169/Communications-Records (page title: Communications | Records | La Palma, CA), phone (714) 690-3369, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Orange 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 Orange, through the court records page at occourts.org/online-services/case-access.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at orangecounty.nextrequest.com (page title: Open Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
The Orange County guide covers every agency in the county: Orange County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in La Palma each year?
La Palma reported 290 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in La Palma?
Look on the custody page of the Orange County Sheriff's Office at ocsheriff.gov/how-do-i/get-inmate-information. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in La Palma booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Orange County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in La Palma?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Orange 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 La Palma?
From the agency that made the arrest: the La Palma police for its own arrests, the Orange 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 orangecounty.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official La Palma 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.