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.
Modesto, California, in Stanislaus County, has about 221,000 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 Stanislaus. 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: Modesto public records, Stanislaus County arrest records, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Modesto
The FBI lists Modesto with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Modesto Police Department. It reported 10,361 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 Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,205 arrests for 2023.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Stanislaus County: California State University at Stanislaus (campus police); the Highway Patrol at Stanislaus County Auto Theft Task Force and the Highway Patrol's Modesto Area Office (state police); Union Pacific Railroad in Stanislaus County (other).
How Many Arrests Modesto 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.
- Modesto: 10,361 for 2025, 8,934 for 2024, 7,353 for 2023, 5,672 for 2022, 14,364 for 2020 and 11,497 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Modesto's 10,361 arrests in 2025 were up 16 percent from 8,934 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Modesto reported 5,190 arrests, against 6,950 in the same months of 2025.
Across Stanislaus County, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 14,982 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Modesto Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Modesto 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 1,400 people, up from about 1,200 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,447 beds, and it ran at 96 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 Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office at scsdonline.com/online-services/inmates-list (page title: Who’s in Jail | Sheriff's Office), 250 E. Hackett Rd., Modesto, CA 95358, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Modesto
Whether someone was arrested in Modesto, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Stanislaus, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at stanislaus.courts.ca.gov/online-services/search-case); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at stancounty.com/news-room/bios/da.shtm).
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 Modesto
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 Modesto police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at modestogov.com/274/Modesto-Police-Records (page title: Modesto Police Records | Modesto, CA), phone 209-572-9580, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Stanislaus 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 Stanislaus, through the court records page at stanislaus.courts.ca.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at stanislaus.courts.ca.gov (page title: Judicial Administrative Records Request Form | Superior Court of California | County of Stanislaus).
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
The Stanislaus County guide covers every agency in the county: Stanislaus County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Modesto each year?
Modesto reported 10,361 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Modesto?
Ask the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at scsdonline.com/online-services/inmates-list.
Where are people arrested in Modesto booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Modesto?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Stanislaus 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 Modesto?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Modesto police for its own arrests, the Stanislaus 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 stanislaus.courts.ca.gov.
Is this the official Modesto 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.