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.
Menlo Park, California, in San Mateo County, has about 33,000 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 Mateo. 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: Menlo Park public records, San Mateo County arrest records, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Menlo Park
The FBI lists Menlo Park with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Menlo Park Police Department. It reported 975 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 Mateo County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 3,068 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in San Mateo County: San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Mateo County and Union Pacific Railroad in San Mateo County (other); the Highway Patrol's Redwood City Area Office (state police).
How Many Arrests Menlo Park 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.
- Menlo Park: 975 for 2025, 754 for 2024, 727 for 2023, 847 for 2022, 805 for 2020 and 1,068 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Menlo Park's 975 arrests in 2025 were up 29 percent from 754 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Menlo Park reported 538 arrests, against 653 in the same months of 2025.
Across San Mateo County, the 17 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 13,525 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Menlo Park Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Menlo Park 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 930 people, down from about 1,020 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,360 beds, and it ran at 77 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Menlo Park
Whether someone was arrested in Menlo Park, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sanmateo.courts.ca.gov/online-services/information-accessing-your-c..., phone 650-261-5100); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at smcgov.org/da, phone (650) 363-4636).
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 Menlo Park
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. 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 Menlo Park police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at menlopark.gov/Government/Departments/Police/Police-Records/Reports-... (page title: Police reports and PRA requests City of Menlo Park), phone 650-363-4677, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (650) 363-4636, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo, through the court records page at sanmateo.courts.ca.gov, phone 650-261-5100.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at smcgov.org (page title: Public Records Act Request Form | County of San Mateo, CA).
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
The San Mateo County guide covers every agency in the county: San Mateo County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Menlo Park each year?
Menlo Park reported 975 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Menlo Park booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Menlo Park?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo 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 Menlo Park?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Menlo Park police for its own arrests, the San Mateo 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 smcgov.org.
Is this the official Menlo Park 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.