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

Orange County, California, has about 3.2 million residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Orange County Sheriff's Office, 34 city agencies and eight 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 Orange. 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: Orange County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Orange County

The Orange County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Orange County. It reported 1,884 arrests for 2025.

The FBI lists 34 cities in Orange 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:

  • Anaheim, 344,561 residents: 10,528 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Irvine, 318,683 residents: 2,903 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Santa Ana, 316,184 residents: 9,551 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Huntington Beach, 193,151 residents: 5,755 arrests reported for 2023.
  • Garden Grove, 172,361 residents: 3,371 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Fullerton, 140,054 residents: 5,726 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Orange, 137,941 residents: 2,442 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Costa Mesa, 109,131 residents: 4,151 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Mission Viejo, 91,601 residents: 1,015 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Westminster, 89,537 residents: 1,933 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Lake Forest, 87,159 residents: 1,244 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Newport Beach, 82,970 residents: 2,915 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 Orange County: the University of California at Irvine, California State University at Fullerton and Irvine Valley College (campus police); Union Pacific Railroad in Orange County (other); California State Parks at Orange Coast (state agency); the Highway Patrol's Westminster, Santa Ana and Capistrano Area Offices (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Orange 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.

  • Anaheim: 10,528 for 2025, 10,958 for 2024, 9,838 for 2023, 9,109 for 2022, 11,522 for 2020 and 15,704 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Santa Ana: 9,551 for 2025, 8,462 for 2024, 7,591 for 2023, 7,661 for 2020 and 8,271 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Fullerton: 5,726 for 2025, 6,327 for 2024, 4,806 for 2023, 6,728 for 2022, 6,551 for 2020 and 9,017 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Costa Mesa: 4,151 for 2025, 3,891 for 2024, 4,951 for 2023, 9,308 for 2022, 7,803 for 2020 and 8,217 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Garden Grove: 3,371 for 2025, 4,091 for 2024, 3,020 for 2023, 2,921 for 2022, 8,482 for 2020 and 9,563 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Newport Beach: 2,915 for 2025, 2,872 for 2024, 2,312 for 2023, 3,620 for 2022, 3,827 for 2020 and 4,817 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Irvine: 2,903 for 2025, 2,682 for 2024, 2,663 for 2023, 2,286 for 2022, 3,135 for 2020 and 3,507 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Orange: 2,442 for 2025, 3,226 for 2024, 3,633 for 2023, 7,860 for 2020 and 7,472 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Buena Park: 2,081 for 2025, 1,842 for 2024, 2,098 for 2023, 3,087 for 2022, 4,537 for 2020 and 4,767 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Fountain Valley: 2,009 for 2025, 1,821 for 2024, 1,319 for 2023, 1,792 for 2022, 2,611 for 2020 and 3,454 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Westminster: 1,933 for 2025, 2,168 for 2024, 2,046 for 2023, 2,498 for 2022, 3,433 for 2020 and 3,851 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Tustin: 1,885 for 2025, 1,806 for 2024, 1,599 for 2023, 2,133 for 2022, 3,843 for 2020 and 3,845 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.

Together, the 34 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 67,119 arrests that year. The 32 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 64,159 in 2025 against 65,781 in 2024, down 2.5 percent.

Through August 2026, the 27 agencies with every month so far on file reported 32,052 arrests, against 33,460 in the same months of 2025.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Orange County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Orange 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 3,930 people, down from about 5,650 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 5,093 beds, and it ran at 67 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 Orange County Sheriff's Office at ocsheriff.gov/how-do-i/get-inmate-information (page title: Get Inmate Information... | Orange County California | Sheriff's Department), 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 Orange County

An arrest in Orange County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Orange County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Orange, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at occourts.org/online-services/case-access); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at ocdistrictattorney.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 Orange 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 Orange County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Anaheim, Irvine, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Fullerton 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 University of California at Irvine, California State University at Fullerton or Union Pacific Railroad in Orange 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 Orange, through the court records page at occourts.org/online-services/case-access.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at orangecounty.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 Orange County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the 34 cities in Orange County: the twelve named above and Buena Park, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Laguna Niguel, San Clemente, La Habra, Fountain Valley, Placentia, Aliso Viejo, Cypress, Brea, Rancho Santa Margarita, Stanton, San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Seal Beach, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, La Palma, Los Alamitos and Villa Park.

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 Orange.

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

Anaheim reported 10,528 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 34 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 67,119 between them.

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

Look on the custody page of the Orange County Sheriff's Office at ocsheriff.gov/how-do-i/get-inmate-information. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Orange County booked?

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

Are arrest records public in Orange County?

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

From the agency that made the arrest: the Orange 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 orangecounty.nextrequest.com.

Is this the official Orange 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.