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.
San Joaquin County, California, has about 816,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office, seven city agencies and six 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 San Joaquin. 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: San Joaquin County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in San Joaquin County
The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for San Joaquin County. It reported 2,582 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists seven cities in San Joaquin County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Stockton, 324,975 residents: 5,264 arrests reported for 2025.
- Tracy, 100,136 residents: 1,476 arrests reported for 2025.
- Manteca, 94,292 residents: 1,927 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lodi, 68,642 residents: 1,828 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lathrop, 40,860 residents: 528 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ripon, 16,252 residents: 272 arrests reported for 2025.
- Escalon, 7,453 residents: 207 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 San Joaquin County: the Highway Patrol at Delta Regional Auto Theft Team and the Highway Patrol's Stockton and Tracy Area Offices (state police); San Joaquin Delta College (campus police); the Stockton Unified School District and Union Pacific Railroad in San Joaquin County (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in San Joaquin 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.
- Stockton: 5,264 for 2025, 4,895 for 2024, 4,493 for 2023, 4,631 for 2022, 6,584 for 2020 and 7,950 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office: 2,582 for 2025, 2,225 for 2024, 2,733 for 2023, 5,272 for 2022, 4,507 for 2020 and 4,102 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Manteca: 1,927 for 2025, 1,978 for 2024, 1,586 for 2023, 1,639 for 2022, 1,703 for 2020 and 2,487 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Lodi: 1,828 for 2025, 3,634 for 2020 and 3,750 for 2019; 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Tracy: 1,476 for 2025, 1,284 for 2024, 1,223 for 2023, 1,034 for 2022, 1,059 for 2020 and 2,232 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Lathrop: 528 for 2025, 710 for 2024 and 683 for 2023.
- Ripon: 272 for 2025, 318 for 2024, 405 for 2023, 530 for 2022, 812 for 2020 and 971 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Escalon: 207 for 2025, 225 for 2024, 184 for 2023, 251 for 2022, 247 for 2020 and 311 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the eight agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 14,084 arrests that year. The seven of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 12,256 in 2025 against 11,635 in 2024, up 5.3 percent.
Through August 2026, the seven agencies with every month so far on file reported 8,160 arrests, against 8,318 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in San Joaquin County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in San Joaquin 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 1,260 people, down from about 1,360 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,550 beds, and it ran at 81 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 San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office at wic.sjgov.org (page title: Who is in Custody), 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 San Joaquin County
Whether someone was arrested in San Joaquin County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of San Joaquin, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sjcourts.org/case-management-search); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at sjcda.org).
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 San Joaquin 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 San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Stockton, Tracy, Manteca, Lodi, Lathrop, Ripon 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 Highway Patrol at Delta Regional Auto Theft Team, the Highway Patrol's Stockton and Tracy Area Offices or San Joaquin Delta College: 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 San Joaquin, through the court records page at sjcourts.org/case-management-search.
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
Cities in San Joaquin County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the seven cities in San Joaquin County: Stockton, Tracy, Manteca, Lodi, Lathrop, Ripon and Escalon.
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 San Joaquin.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in San Joaquin 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 San Joaquin County each year?
Stockton reported 5,264 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the eight agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 14,084 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in San Joaquin County?
Look on the custody page of the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office at wic.sjgov.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in San Joaquin County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in San Joaquin County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of San Joaquin 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 San Joaquin County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the San Joaquin 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 San Joaquin 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.