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

Kern County, California, has about 923,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Kern County Sheriff's Office, 12 city agencies and nine 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 Kern. 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: Kern County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Kern County

The Kern County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Kern County. It reported 6,885 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year.

Arrests inside ten of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:

  • Bakersfield, 417,468 residents: 11,479 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Delano, 53,198 residents: 1,413 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Ridgecrest, 28,373 residents: 1,634 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Wasco, 27,409 residents: 1,014 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Shafter, 22,754 residents: 998 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Arvin, 19,661 residents: 466 arrests reported for 2020.
  • McFarland, 14,365 residents: 485 arrests reported for 2025.
  • California City, 13,174 residents: 218 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Tehachapi, 11,114 residents: 478 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Taft, 6,988 residents: 388 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 Kern County: California State University at Bakersfield (campus police); the Kern High School District and Union Pacific Railroad in Kern County (other); the Highway Patrol at Kern County Auto Theft Task Force, the Highway Patrol's Bakersfield, Buttonwillow, Mojave and Fort Tejon Area Offices and the Highway Patrol at Grapevine Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Kern 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.

  • Bakersfield: 11,479 for 2025, 10,977 for 2024, 9,261 for 2023, 12,172 for 2022, 13,034 for 2020 and 19,835 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Ridgecrest: 1,634 for 2025, 1,747 for 2024, 1,623 for 2023, 1,241 for 2022, 2,810 for 2020 and 2,537 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Delano: 1,413 for 2025, 1,137 for 2024, 978 for 2023, 793 for 2022, 1,495 for 2020 and 1,892 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Wasco: 1,014 for 2025.
  • Shafter: 998 for 2025, 1,090 for 2024, 1,103 for 2023, 1,359 for 2022, 1,723 for 2020 and 1,248 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • McFarland: 485 for 2025, 509 for 2024, 703 for 2023, 780 for 2022, 539 for 2020 and 584 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Tehachapi: 478 for 2025, 435 for 2024, 549 for 2023, 423 for 2022, 692 for 2020 and 812 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Taft: 388 for 2025, 363 for 2024, 401 for 2023, 630 for 2022, 927 for 2020 and 826 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • California City: 218 for 2025, 230 for 2024, 358 for 2023, 462 for 2022, 557 for 2020 and 772 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Bear Valley: 15 for 2025, 14 for 2024, 7 for 2023, 19 for 2022, 35 for 2020 and 45 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Kern County Sheriff's Office: 6,885 for 2023, 9,115 for 2022, 9,997 for 2020 and 15,271 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Arvin: 466 for 2020 and 378 for 2019.

Together, the ten agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 18,122 arrests that year. The nine of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 17,108 in 2025 against 16,502 in 2024, up 3.7 percent.

Through July 2026, the ten agencies with every month so far on file reported 9,477 arrests, against 11,048 in the same months of 2025.

Kern County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (3 months) and is left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Kern County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Kern 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 1,790 people, down from about 1,910 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,835 beds, and it ran at 88 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 Kern County Sheriff's Office at kernsheriff.org/inmate-search (page title: Inmate Search | Kern County Sheriff’s Office), 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 Kern County

Whether someone was arrested in Kern County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Kern County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Kern, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at kern.courts.ca.gov/self-help/court-records); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at kerncounty.com/government/departments/district-attorney/about/our-o...).

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 Kern County

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 Kern County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Bakersfield, Delano, Ridgecrest, Wasco, Shafter, Arvin 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 California State University at Bakersfield, the Kern High School District or Union Pacific Railroad in Kern 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 Kern, through the court records page at kern.courts.ca.gov/self-help/court-records.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at kerncountyca.nextrequest.com (page title: Open Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
  • Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.

Cities in Kern County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for ten of the 11 cities in Kern County: Bakersfield, Delano, Ridgecrest, Wasco, Shafter, Arvin, McFarland, California City, Tehachapi and Taft. Maricopa has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Stallion Springs Police Department and the Bear Valley Police Department as city agencies in Kern County; Stallion Springs and Bear Valley are not among the cities above.

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 Kern.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Kern 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 Kern County each year?

Bakersfield reported 11,479 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the ten agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 18,122 between them.

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

Look on the custody page of the Kern County Sheriff's Office at kernsheriff.org/inmate-search. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Kern County booked?

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

Are arrest records public in Kern County?

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

From the agency that made the arrest: the Kern 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 kerncountyca.nextrequest.com.

Is this the official Kern 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.