SearchSystems Editorial

Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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 on September 23, 2026.

About this guide

Alameda County, California, has about 1.6 million residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, 14 city agencies and 13 campus, state or other agencies. An arrest 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 Alameda. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.

This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.

Related guides: Alameda County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Alameda County

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Alameda County. It reported 2,610 arrests for 2025.

The FBI lists 14 cities in Alameda County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • Oakland, 443,554 residents: 5,383 arrests reported for 2023.
  • Fremont, 228,192 residents: 733 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Hayward, 158,440 residents: 1,987 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Berkeley, 121,749 residents: 2,111 arrests reported for 2025.
  • San Leandro, 86,571 residents: 854 arrests reported for 2023.
  • Livermore, 84,867 residents: 1,219 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Alameda, 78,795 residents: 1,390 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Pleasanton, 75,664 residents: 713 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Dublin, 70,544 residents: 1,035 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Union City, 66,196 residents: 629 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Newark, 46,254 residents: 627 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Albany, 19,439 residents: 329 arrests reported for 2025.

A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.

The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Alameda County: the Highway Patrol's Oakland, Hayward and Dublin Area Offices, the Highway Patrol's Golden Gate Investigative Services Unit, the Highway Patrol at Nimitz Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility and the Highway Patrol at Mission Grade Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility (state police); San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit in Alameda County, Union Pacific Railroad in Alameda County and East Bay Regional Parks in Alameda County (other); California State Parks at Diablo Range (state agency); the University of California at Berkeley, Ohlone Community College and California State University at East Bay (campus police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Alameda County

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.

  • Alameda County Sheriff's Office: 2,610 for 2025, 2,418 for 2024, 2,660 for 2023, 4,228 for 2022, 6,403 for 2020 and 7,930 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Berkeley: 2,111 for 2025, 1,754 for 2024, 1,916 for 2023, 2,627 for 2020 and 3,635 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Hayward: 1,987 for 2025, 1,773 for 2024, 1,398 for 2023, 2,636 for 2020 and 4,990 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Alameda: 1,390 for 2025, 956 for 2024, 784 for 2023, 947 for 2022, 1,131 for 2020 and 1,895 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Livermore: 1,219 for 2025, 1,206 for 2024, 1,185 for 2023, 2,214 for 2022, 2,432 for 2020 and 3,866 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Dublin: 1,035 for 2025, 1,200 for 2024, 1,285 for 2023, 1,702 for 2022, 2,172 for 2020 and 2,496 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Emeryville: 767 for 2025, 621 for 2024, 546 for 2023, 433 for 2022, 489 for 2020 and 747 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Fremont: 733 for 2025, 868 for 2024, 1,149 for 2023, 1,224 for 2022, 1,546 for 2020 and 3,290 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Pleasanton: 713 for 2025, 999 for 2023, 1,322 for 2022, 1,687 for 2020 and 1,972 for 2019; 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
  • Union City: 629 for 2025, 513 for 2023, 873 for 2020 and 2,027 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2024 are missing months.
  • Newark: 627 for 2025, 692 for 2024, 530 for 2023, 565 for 2022, 1,083 for 2020 and 1,270 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Albany: 329 for 2025, 295 for 2024, 217 for 2023, 192 for 2022 and 452 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.

Together, the 13 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 14,194 arrests that year. The ten of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 11,462 in 2025 against 10,872 in 2024, up 5.4 percent.

Through July 2026, the 11 agencies with every month so far on file reported 6,461 arrests, against 6,085 in the same months of 2025.

San Leandro reported only part of 2025 (9 months) and is left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Alameda County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Alameda County 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 1,450 people, down from about 2,530 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 3,485 beds, and it ran at 50 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 Alameda County Sheriff's Office at acgov.org/sheriff_app (page title: Inmate Locator), 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 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 Alameda County

An arrest in Alameda County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at eportal.alameda.courts.ca.gov/?q=node%2F388); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at da.alamedacountyca.gov).

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 Alameda County

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 Alameda County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Oakland, Fremont, Hayward, Berkeley, San Leandro, Livermore or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
  • An arrest by the Highway Patrol's Oakland, Hayward and Dublin Area Offices, San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit in Alameda County or Union Pacific Railroad in Alameda County: the records office of the agency involved.
  • 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 Alameda, through the court records page at eportal.alameda.courts.ca.gov/?q=node%2F388.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at auditor.alamedacountyca.gov (page title: Public Records Request | Alameda County Auditor-Controller/Clerk-Recorder).
  • Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.

Cities in Alameda County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the 14 cities in Alameda County: the twelve named above and Emeryville and Piedmont.

Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Alameda County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Alameda County each year?

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office reported 2,610 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 13 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 14,194 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Alameda County?

Look on the custody page of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office at acgov.org/sheriff_app. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Alameda County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Alameda County?

The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda 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 Alameda County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Alameda County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 auditor.alamedacountyca.gov.

Is this the official Alameda County website?

No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.