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.
Tulare County, California, has about 484,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Tulare County Sheriff's Office, eight 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 Tulare. 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: Tulare County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Tulare County
The Tulare County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Tulare County. It reported 3,691 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists eight cities in Tulare County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Visalia, 146,271 residents: 3,631 arrests reported for 2025.
- Tulare, 72,601 residents: 1,885 arrests reported for 2025.
- Porterville, 63,517 residents: 2,812 arrests reported for 2025.
- Dinuba, 25,833 residents: 776 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lindsay, 12,706 residents: 399 arrests reported for 2025.
- Farmersville, 10,501 residents: 257 arrests reported for 2025.
- Exeter, 10,186 residents: 197 arrests reported for 2025.
- Woodlake, 7,774 residents: 238 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 Tulare County: Porterville Developmental Center and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection at Tulare (state agency); the Highway Patrol's Visalia and Porterville Area Offices (state police); Union Pacific Railroad in Tulare County (other); the College of the Sequoias (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Tulare 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.
- Tulare County Sheriff's Office: 3,691 for 2025, 3,395 for 2024, 2,886 for 2023, 7,646 for 2022 and 7,369 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Visalia: 3,631 for 2025, 3,497 for 2024, 3,669 for 2023, 3,628 for 2022, 8,621 for 2020 and 9,630 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Porterville: 2,812 for 2025, 2,524 for 2024, 2,789 for 2023, 2,245 for 2022, 5,405 for 2020 and 5,391 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Tulare: 1,885 for 2025, 1,790 for 2024, 1,405 for 2023, 1,319 for 2022 and 4,447 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Dinuba: 776 for 2025, 905 for 2024, 752 for 2023, 689 for 2022, 976 for 2020 and 1,340 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Lindsay: 399 for 2025, 682 for 2024, 779 for 2023, 561 for 2022, 300 for 2020 and 423 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Farmersville: 257 for 2025, 245 for 2024, 396 for 2023, 546 for 2022, 484 for 2020 and 359 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Woodlake: 238 for 2025, 450 for 2024, 447 for 2023, 558 for 2022, 586 for 2020 and 442 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Exeter: 197 for 2025, 347 for 2024, 481 for 2023, 468 for 2022, 804 for 2020 and 553 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 13,886 arrests that year. The eight of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 13,487 in 2025 against 13,153 in 2024, up 2.5 percent.
Through July 2026, the eight agencies with every month so far on file reported 7,621 arrests, against 8,291 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Tulare County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Tulare 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 1,190 people, down from about 1,500 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,615 beds, and it ran at 70 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 Tulare County Sheriff's Office at tularecounty.ca.gov/sheriff (page title: Tulare County Sheriff's Office), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Tulare County
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 Tulare 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 Tulare County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Visalia, Tulare, Porterville, Dinuba, Lindsay, Farmersville 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 Porterville Developmental Center, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection at Tulare or the Highway Patrol's Visalia and Porterville Area Offices: the records office of the agency involved.
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
Cities in Tulare County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the eight cities in Tulare County: Visalia, Tulare, Porterville, Dinuba, Lindsay, Farmersville, Exeter and Woodlake.
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 Tulare.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Tulare County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Porterville (63,517)
- Dinuba (25,833)
- Farmersville (10,501)
- Exeter (10,186)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Tulare County each year?
The Tulare County Sheriff's Office reported 3,691 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 13,886 between them.
Where are people arrested in Tulare County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Tulare County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Tulare County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Tulare 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 Tulare County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Tulare 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 Tulare 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.