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 between September 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Merced County, California, has about 297,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Merced County Sheriff's Office, six city agencies and five 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 Merced. 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: Merced County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Merced County
The Merced County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Merced County. It reported 1,071 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside six 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:
- Merced, 96,073 residents: 2,854 arrests reported for 2025.
- Los Banos, 48,684 residents: 1,413 arrests reported for 2025.
- Atwater, 32,248 residents: 752 arrests reported for 2025.
- Livingston, 14,767 residents: 203 arrests reported for 2025.
- Gustine, 6,138 residents: 145 arrests reported for 2025.
- Dos Palos, 5,759 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 Merced County: Union Pacific Railroad in Merced County (other); the University of California at Merced (campus police); the Highway Patrol's Merced and Los Banos Area Offices and the Highway Patrol at Chowchilla River Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Merced 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.
- Merced: 2,854 for 2025, 2,260 for 2024, 2,345 for 2023, 2,442 for 2022, 3,493 for 2020 and 4,422 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Los Banos: 1,413 for 2025, 1,331 for 2024, 1,184 for 2023, 1,262 for 2022, 1,767 for 2020 and 1,959 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Merced County Sheriff's Office: 1,071 for 2025, 1,037 for 2024, 978 for 2023, 938 for 2022, 1,925 for 2020 and 2,499 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Atwater: 752 for 2025, 802 for 2024, 783 for 2023, 727 for 2022, 1,323 for 2020 and 1,364 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Livingston: 203 for 2025, 300 for 2024, 298 for 2023, 362 for 2022, 393 for 2020 and 564 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Dos Palos: 199 for 2025, 258 for 2024, 194 for 2023, 414 for 2020 and 399 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Gustine: 145 for 2025, 198 for 2024, 221 for 2023, 195 for 2022, 276 for 2020 and 219 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 6,637 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 6,637 in 2025 against 6,186 in 2024, up 7.3 percent.
Through July 2026, the seven agencies with every month so far on file reported 4,056 arrests, against 3,808 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Merced County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Merced 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 240 people, down from about 630 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 746 beds, and it ran at 62 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 Merced County Sheriff's Office at inmateinquiry.co.merced.ca.us/newworld.inmateinquiry/merced (page title: Inmate Search), 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 Merced County
Whether someone was arrested in Merced County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Merced County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Merced, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at merced.courts.ca.gov/online-services/case-records-search); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at countyofmerced.com/3886/District-Attorney, phone (209) 385-7381).
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 Merced 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 Merced County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Merced, Los Banos, Atwater, Livingston, Gustine or Dos Palos: 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 Merced County, the University of California at Merced or the Highway Patrol's Merced and Los Banos Area Offices: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (209) 385-7381, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of California, County of Merced, through the court records page at merced.courts.ca.gov.
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
The other Merced County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Merced County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the six cities in Merced County: Merced, Los Banos, Atwater, Livingston, Gustine and Dos Palos.
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 Merced.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Merced 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 Merced County each year?
Merced reported 2,854 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 6,637 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Merced County?
Look on the custody page of the Merced County Sheriff's Office at inmateinquiry.co.merced.ca.us. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Merced County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Merced County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Merced County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Merced 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 Merced County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Merced 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 Merced 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.