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 October 2, 2026.
Palo Alto, California, in Santa Clara County, has about 68,000 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 Santa Clara. 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: Palo Alto public records, Santa Clara County arrest records, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Palo Alto
The FBI lists Palo Alto with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Palo Alto Police Department. It reported 1,369 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 Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,752 arrests for 2023.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Santa Clara County: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection at Santa Clara (state agency); the Santa Clara Transit District, Union Pacific Railroad in Santa Clara County and San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit in Santa Clara County (other); the Highway Patrol's Hollister-Gilroy and San Jose Area Offices and the Highway Patrol at Gilroy Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility (state police); California State University at San Jose, Foothill-De Anza College, San Jose/Evergreen Community College and West Valley-Mission Community College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Palo Alto 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.
- Palo Alto: 1,369 for 2025, 1,099 for 2024, 1,097 for 2023, 910 for 2022, 1,381 for 2020 and 2,159 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Palo Alto's 1,369 arrests in 2025 were up 25 percent from 1,099 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Palo Alto reported 840 arrests, against 852 in the same months of 2025.
Across Santa Clara County, the 14 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 27,749 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Palo Alto Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Palo Alto 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 2,740 people, down from about 3,280 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 3,932 beds, and it ran at 75 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 Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.santaclaracounty.gov/home (page title: Office of the Sheriff | County of Santa Clara), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Palo Alto
For Palo Alto the place to look is the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at santaclara.courts.ca.gov/online-services/case-information-online).
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 Palo Alto
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 Palo Alto police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at paloalto.gov/Departments/Police/Public-Information-Portal/Request-P... (page title: Request Police Records | City of Palo Alto, CA), 250 Sherman Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, through the court records page at santaclara.courts.ca.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at santaclara.nextrequest.com (page title: Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
The Santa Clara County guide covers every agency in the county: Santa Clara County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Palo Alto each year?
Palo Alto reported 1,369 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Palo Alto booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Palo Alto?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara 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 Palo Alto?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Palo Alto police for its own arrests, the Santa Clara 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 santaclara.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Palo Alto 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.