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.
Kings County, California, has about 155,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Kings County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and two 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 Kings. 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: Kings County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Kings County
The Kings County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Kings County. It reported 661 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside four 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:
- Hanford, 60,594 residents: 2,033 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lemoore, 27,057 residents: 872 arrests reported for 2025.
- Corcoran, 22,627 residents: 786 arrests reported for 2025.
- Avenal, 14,108 residents: 199 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 Kings County: Union Pacific Railroad in Kings County (other); the Highway Patrol's Hanford Area Office (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Kings 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.
- Hanford: 2,033 for 2025, 2,139 for 2024, 2,262 for 2023, 2,463 for 2022, 3,250 for 2020 and 3,613 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Lemoore: 872 for 2025, 734 for 2024, 832 for 2023, 1,154 for 2022, 1,574 for 2020 and 1,144 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Corcoran: 786 for 2025, 586 for 2024, 555 for 2023, 554 for 2022, 702 for 2020 and 940 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Kings County Sheriff's Office: 661 for 2025, 589 for 2024, 721 for 2023, 986 for 2022, 3,232 for 2020 and 3,737 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Avenal: 199 for 2025, 312 for 2024, 302 for 2023 and 251 for 2022.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,551 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,551 in 2025 against 4,360 in 2024, up 4.4 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,166 arrests, against 2,063 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Kings County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Kings County 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 370 people, down from about 590 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 637 beds, and it ran at 71 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 Kings County Sheriff's Office at countyofkingsca.gov/departments/public-safety/sheriff/booking-inmat... (page title: Booking/Inmate Information | Kings County), 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 Kings County
Whether someone was arrested in Kings County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Kings County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Kings, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at portal.kings.courts.ca.gov/public-portal/?q=Home); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at countyofkingsca.gov/departments/public-safety/district-attorney, phone (559) 852-2392).
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 Kings 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 Kings County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Hanford, Lemoore, Corcoran or Avenal: 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 Union Pacific Railroad in Kings County or the Highway Patrol's Hanford Area Office: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (559) 852-2392, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of California, County of Kings, through the court records page at portal.kings.courts.ca.gov.
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
Cities in Kings County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Kings County: Hanford, Lemoore, Corcoran and Avenal.
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 Kings.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Kings 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 Kings County each year?
Hanford reported 2,033 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,551 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Kings County?
Look on the custody page of the Kings County Sheriff's Office at countyofkingsca.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Kings County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Kings County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Kings County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Kings 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 Kings County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Kings 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.
Is this the official Kings 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.