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

Sonoma County, California, has about 485,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, nine city agencies and seven 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 Sonoma. 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: Sonoma County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Sonoma County

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Sonoma County. It reported 2,447 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside nine 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:

  • Santa Rosa, 177,524 residents: 5,763 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Petaluma, 59,393 residents: 1,171 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Rohnert Park, 44,894 residents: 986 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Windsor, 25,846 residents: 431 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Healdsburg, 11,231 residents: 553 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Sonoma, 10,606 residents: 185 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Cloverdale, 8,784 residents: 213 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Cotati, 7,403 residents: 414 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Sebastopol, 7,388 residents: 242 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 Sonoma County: California State Parks at Sonoma-Mendocino, California State Parks at Bay Area and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection at Sonoma-Lake-Napa (state agency); Sonoma State University and Sonoma County Junior College (campus police); Union Pacific Railroad in Sonoma County (other); the Highway Patrol's Santa Rosa Area Office (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Sonoma 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.

  • Santa Rosa: 5,763 for 2025, 5,677 for 2024, 6,246 for 2023 and 9,782 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Sonoma County Sheriff's Office: 2,447 for 2025, 2,199 for 2024, 2,087 for 2023, 1,680 for 2022, 2,825 for 2020 and 4,321 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Petaluma: 1,171 for 2025, 1,387 for 2024, 1,559 for 2023, 1,446 for 2022, 1,245 for 2020 and 2,599 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Rohnert Park: 986 for 2025, 1,080 for 2024, 1,167 for 2023, 1,868 for 2022, 1,924 for 2020 and 2,533 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Healdsburg: 553 for 2025, 744 for 2024, 700 for 2023, 502 for 2022, 493 for 2020 and 638 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Windsor: 431 for 2025, 465 for 2024, 377 for 2023, 447 for 2020 and 792 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • Cotati: 414 for 2025, 426 for 2024, 282 for 2023, 271 for 2022, 336 for 2020 and 562 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Sebastopol: 242 for 2025, 238 for 2024, 248 for 2023, 247 for 2022, 545 for 2020 and 636 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Cloverdale: 213 for 2025, 193 for 2024, 159 for 2023, 174 for 2022, 349 for 2020 and 507 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Sonoma: 185 for 2025, 214 for 2024, 193 for 2023, 255 for 2020 and 480 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.

Together, the ten agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 12,405 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 12,405 in 2025 against 12,623 in 2024, down 1.7 percent.

Through August 2026, the ten agencies with every month so far on file reported 8,156 arrests, against 8,499 in the same months of 2025.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Sonoma County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Sonoma 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 680 people, down from about 1,040 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 912 beds, and it ran at 80 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.

SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office at sonomasheriff.org/reports-and-statistics (page title: Reports and Statistics | Sonoma County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.

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 Sonoma County

Whether someone was arrested in Sonoma County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Sonoma, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sonoma.courts.ca.gov/online-services/case-portal); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at da.sonomacounty.ca.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 Sonoma 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 Sonoma County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Windsor, Healdsburg, Sonoma 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 California State Parks at Sonoma-Mendocino, Sonoma State University or Union Pacific Railroad in Sonoma 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 Sonoma, through the court records page at sonoma.courts.ca.gov.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sonomacounty.gov (page title: Public Records Requests | Clerk-Recorder-Assessor).
  • Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.

Cities in Sonoma County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the nine cities in Sonoma County: Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Windsor, Healdsburg, Sonoma, Cloverdale, Cotati and Sebastopol.

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 Sonoma.

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

Santa Rosa reported 5,763 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the ten agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 12,405 between them.

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

Ask the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sonomasheriff.org/reports-and-statistics.

Where are people arrested in Sonoma County booked?

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

Are arrest records public in Sonoma County?

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

From the agency that made the arrest: the Sonoma 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 sonomacounty.gov.

Is this the official Sonoma 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.