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.
Mendocino County, California, has about 89,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and three 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 Mendocino. 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: Mendocino County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Mendocino County
The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Mendocino County. It reported 726 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Mendocino County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Ukiah, 16,067 residents: 1,259 arrests reported for 2025.
- Fort Bragg, 7,117 residents: 294 arrests reported for 2025.
- Willits, 4,844 residents: 196 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 Mendocino County: Union Pacific Railroad in Mendocino County (other); California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection at Mendocino (state agency); the Highway Patrol's Ukiah Area Office (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Mendocino County
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.
- Ukiah: 1,259 for 2025, 1,317 for 2024, 1,065 for 2023, 1,164 for 2022, 1,724 for 2020 and 1,994 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Mendocino County Sheriff's Office: 726 for 2025, 744 for 2024, 1,829 for 2020 and 2,744 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Fort Bragg: 294 for 2025, 358 for 2024, 405 for 2023, 498 for 2022, 611 for 2020 and 560 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Willits: 196 for 2025, 134 for 2024, 221 for 2023, 325 for 2020 and 703 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,475 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,475 in 2025 against 2,553 in 2024, down 3.1 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 716 arrests, against 832 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Mendocino County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Mendocino 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 240 people, down from about 290 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 301 beds, and it ran at 20 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 Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at mendocinocounty.gov/government/inmate-locator (page title: Inmate Locator | Mendocino County, CA), 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 Mendocino County
An arrest in Mendocino County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Mendocino, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at mendocino.courts.ca.gov/portal, phone 916-845-4064); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at mendocinocounty.gov/government/district-attorney, phone 707.463.4211).
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 Mendocino 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 Mendocino County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Ukiah, Fort Bragg or Willits: 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 Mendocino County, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection at Mendocino or the Highway Patrol's Ukiah Area Office: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 707.463.4211, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of California, County of Mendocino, through the court records page at mendocino.courts.ca.gov/portal, phone 916-845-4064.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at mendocinocounty.gov (page title: Public Records Request | Mendocino County, CA).
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
Cities in Mendocino County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the four cities in Mendocino County: Ukiah, Fort Bragg and Willits. Point Arena has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
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 Mendocino.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Mendocino County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Ukiah (16,067)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Mendocino County each year?
Ukiah reported 1,259 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,475 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Mendocino County?
Look on the custody page of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at mendocinocounty.gov/government/inmate-locator. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Mendocino County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Mendocino County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Mendocino 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 Mendocino County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Mendocino 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 mendocinocounty.gov.
Is this the official Mendocino 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.