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 25, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Porterville, California, in Tulare County, has about 64,000 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 Tulare. 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: Porterville public records, Tulare County arrest records, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Porterville
The FBI lists Porterville with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Porterville Police Department. It reported 2,812 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 Tulare County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 3,691 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Tulare County: Porterville Developmental Center and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection at Tulare (state agency); the Highway Patrol's Visalia and Porterville Area Offices (state police); Union Pacific Railroad in Tulare County (other); the College of the Sequoias (campus police).
How Many Arrests Porterville 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.
- Porterville: 2,812 for 2025, 2,524 for 2024, 2,789 for 2023, 2,245 for 2022, 5,405 for 2020 and 5,391 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Porterville's 2,812 arrests in 2025 were up 11 percent from 2,524 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Porterville reported 1,775 arrests, against 1,823 in the same months of 2025.
Across Tulare County, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 13,886 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Porterville Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Porterville 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 1,190 people, down from about 1,500 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,615 beds, and it ran at 70 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 Tulare County Sheriff's Office at tularecounty.ca.gov/sheriff (page title: Tulare County Sheriff's Office), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Porterville
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 Porterville
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 Porterville police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at oag.ca.gov/fingerprints/locations/porterville-police-department (page title: Porterville Police Department | State of California | Department of Justice | Office of the Attorney General), phone (559) 782-7428, 350 N. D Street Porterville, CA 93257, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Tulare County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
The Tulare County guide covers every agency in the county: Tulare County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Porterville each year?
Porterville reported 2,812 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Porterville booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Tulare County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Porterville?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Tulare 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 Porterville?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Porterville police for its own arrests, the Tulare 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.
Is this the official Porterville 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.