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.
St. Helena, California, in Napa County, has about 5,300 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 Napa. 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: St. Helena public records, Napa County arrest records, California arrest records and California inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in St. Helena
The FBI lists St. Helena with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as St. Helena Police Department. It reported 85 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 Napa County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 324 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Napa County: Union Pacific Railroad in Napa County and the Napa Special Investigations Bureau (other); Napa State Hospital (state agency); the Highway Patrol's Napa Area Office (state police).
How Many Arrests St. Helena 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.
- St. Helena: 85 for 2025, 102 for 2024, 136 for 2023, 105 for 2022, 98 for 2020 and 98 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
St. Helena's 85 arrests in 2025 were down 17 percent from 102 in 2024.
Through August 2026, St. Helena reported 44 arrests, against 60 in the same months of 2025.
Across Napa County, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,071 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in St. Helena Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in St. Helena 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 220 people, down from about 250 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 275 beds, and it ran at 92 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 Napa County Sheriff's Office at app.napacounty.gov/CJNet/Public/BookingReport (page title: Jail Booking Report | County of Napa), 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 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 St. Helena
Whether someone was arrested in St. Helena, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Napa County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Napa, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at napa.courts.ca.gov/research-records, phone (707) 299-1140).
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 St. Helena
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 St. Helena police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cityofsthelena.gov/346/Request-for-Police-Report (page title: Request for Police Report | St Helena, CA), 1088 College Avenue St. Helena, CA 94574, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Napa County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of California, County of Napa, through the court records page at napa.courts.ca.gov/research-records, phone (707) 299-1140.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at countyofnapa.nextrequest.com (page title: Requests for Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
The Napa County guide covers every agency in the county: Napa County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in St. Helena each year?
St. Helena reported 85 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in St. Helena?
Look on the custody page of the Napa County Sheriff's Office at app.napacounty.gov/CJNet/Public/BookingReport. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in St. Helena booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Napa County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in St. Helena?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Napa 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 St. Helena?
From the agency that made the arrest: the St. Helena police for its own arrests, the Napa 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 countyofnapa.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official St. Helena 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.